» 



LIFE 

OF 

JAMES HAMILTON, D.D. F.L.S. 



LIFE 



OF 



JAMES HAMILTON 

D.D. F.L.S. 



/ 

BY WILLIAM ARNOT 

EDINBURGH 



FOURTH EDITION 



LONDON 

JAMES NISBET & CO., BERNERS STREET 
1870. 



3W 1 



103 



EDINBURGH : 
THOMAS AND ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, 
PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN, AND TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



PARENTAGE — CHILDHOOD — YOUTH TILL HIS FATHER'S DEATH. 



PAGE 



Notices of the family — Sketch of his father — Circumstances of 



hood — Educational influences — First journal — First session 
at College — Spiritual life — Literary adventure—Anticipates . 
an early removal — Death of his sister Elizabeth — College 
examination — Exercises in vacation — Self-searching — Natural 
philosophy — Professors and students — Chemistry — Father's 
death . . . . . 1-73 

CHAPTER II. 

FROM HIS FATHER'S DEATH TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF HIS MINISTRY. 

Leaving the Manse — Day-book — Observations in natural his- 
tory — Memoir of his father — Removal to Edinburgh — Dr. 
Thomas Thomson — Sir William Hooker — The botany of Pales- 
tine — Literary engagements — Journey to London — Oxford 
— Resignation of appointment to Morningside — Death of his 
sister Mary — Mission in St. George's Parish, Edinburgh, 74-127 



The minister of the parish — His work as assistant— Invited to 
Greenock — Natural history in the pulpit — William Burns — 
Visit to Strathblane — Strathbogie — Conflict between Church 
and State— Called to Edinburgh, 128- 1C6 




habits in child- 



CHAPTER III. 



MINISTRY AT ABERNYTE. 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MINISTRY IN EDINBURGH AND REMOVAL TO LONDON. 

PA 

Ordination as minister of Roxburgh Church — Fruits of his 
short ministry there — The National Scotch Church, Regent 
Square — Edward Irving — Mr. Hamilton called to London, 167-188 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM HIS SETTLEMENT IN LONDON IN 1841 TO THE DISRUPTION 
OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH IN 1843. 

Halley and Hamilton — Series of tracts — Church in the House, 
etc. — The Presbyterian Church in England — Troubles in 
Scotland — The Convocation — The Harp on the Willows — The 
liberty demanded by the Church, and refused by the State — 
The death of M'Cheyne — A quickened ministry — The Dis- 
ruption — Relation of the Churches in England to Scotch 
Establishment — Presbytery of London — Law and Equity, 189-233 



CHAPTER VI. 
1843-1846. 

Dr. Guthrie — Robert M'Cheyne — Review of intrusted talents — 
Christian union — Difficulty of obtaining ministers — Origin 
of Life in Earnest — Natural history — Call to Rev. A. Bonar 
— Residence at Ems — Travelling in Germany — Sojourn in 
Wales — Plans for preaching — The Calvinists and the Estab- 
lishment in Wales — Series of letters to Miss Moore — His 
marriage, 234-300 



CHAPTER VII. 
1846-1849. 

Course on the Evidences — Presbyterian College — Emblems from 
Eden — Sermons to various classes — Days numbered and noted 
— The dangerous classes — Happy Home — How tracts should 
be. written — The Presbyterian Messenger — Death of his sister, 
Mrs. Walker, 301-348 



CONTENTS. 



vii 



CHAPTER VIII. 
1849-1851. 

PAGE 

Artists — Strathblane notables — Memoir of Lady Colquhoun — 
Vacation occupations — The brothers Laurence — Pastoral ad- 
dress on epidemic — Presbyterian Church in England — Death 
of his sister's child, and of his brother's wife — Quoad sacra 
Churches — The 1st of May at Glasgow — Speech in the 
General Assembly — His library — Birth of his son — Romanism, 
its Root of Bitterness, ....... 349-396 



CHAPTER IX. 
1851-1854. 

Bibline or book-essence — Literary hoards — Doddridge and 
Watts — Sir John Pirie — Lady Verney — Sir George Sinclair 
— The Royal Preacher — Mr. William Hamilton — Mr. and 
Mrs. Barbour — The Light to the Path — Excelsior — Memoir of 
Richard Williams — Governor Briggs and Mr. Amos Lau- 



CHAPTER X. 
1855-1857. s 
Time wasted — Members of Evangelical Alliance — His mother's 
death — Thankfulness — Railway collision — Dr. James W. 
Alexander — The Great Biography — The China Mission — 
David Sandeman — Fruits from Life in Earnest— Our Chris- 
tian Classics — Literature for Sweden — Rotatory reading- 
rooms, 439-476 



CHAPTER XL 
1858-1863. 

Botany of Scripture — Efforts to overcome defects — Dr. Hamil- 
ton as a preacher — Death of Mr. Sandeman — Erasmus — 
Purchase and repair of Regent Square Church — Nelson's 
battle-cry — A Whip for the Indolent — Congregational Report 
— James Burns and James Hamilton — The Church Exten- 
sion Scheme, . .' 477-514 



vm 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 
1860-1865. 

PAGE 

Death of his cousin — Greek Philosophy — Literary aspirations 
— Day-book — Invitation to Edinburgh declined — Dialogue 
with a piano tuner — Retrospect of vacations — Labour on 
the Life of Erasmus — The project abandoned — Dr. Living- 
stone — Dangerous accident to his son, .... 515-554. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

LATEST YEARS. 

The College at Glasgow — Review of its recent history — Eminent 
students — Professors — Influence of the College on the city 
— Hunterian Museum — West Church Burying-ground — 
The Prodigal Son — The Book of Psalms and Hymns — The 
Psalter and Hymn Book, Three Lectures — Controversy on 
the subject of Hymns — Latest public labours — Illness — 
Residence at Eltham — At Godalming — Marriage of his 
daughter — Letter to the Congregation — Residence at Mar- 
gate — The setting sun — Narrative of closing scenes — His 
death — His funeral — The members of his family — A fragrant 
memory, .......... 555-600 



CHAPTER I. 



PARENTAGE — CHILDHOOD— YOUTH, TILL HIS FATHER'S DEATH. 

" A trap to catch a sunbeam," — the playful title of a 
fiction, strangely presents itself here as the fittest phrase 
to express the aim, sober, grave, and tender, of this real 
and recent history. Great and good lives, — lives that are 
at once manly and godly, where the affections that spring . 
from the earth are imbued with the holiness that distils 
from heaven, — are like rays of sunlight which gladden the 
world while they shine, but leave it dark and chilly when 
they depart. for an art in the moral sphere, equiva- 
lent to that of the photographer in the material, whereby 
we might seize, and fix, and perpetuate those rarer rays 
which stream through the mass of human history like 
veins of felspar in a quarry ! 

This is the specific task assigned to the biographer. 
Feeble and faint at best mast be the image of a life trans- 
ferred to a printed page, in comparison with that life itself, 
as it was felt by friends while it lasted, and is remembered 
still ; but, if the original were indeed a sunbeam sent from 
heaven to cheer a portion of this dull earth, a copy, to 
some extent true and suggestive, may be taken and kept. 
The negative which a biography may fix for the use of 



2 



NOTICES OF THE FAMILY. 



posterity will fail indeed to reproduce the vital colours ; 
but if it be at once fond and faithful it will secure a true 
outline, and help surviving friends to recall the vanished 
life. 

The family from which James Hamilton sprang can be 
traced for several generations, some as proprietors and 
some as cultivators of the soil, in the middle ward of 
Lanarkshire. About the middle of the last century, John 
Hamilton, land of Burnside and East Quarter, had reached 
an advanced age, and was unmarried. In these circum- 
stances it was natural that James, the son of his deceased 
brother, should, in his youth, permit himself to be buoyed up 
with the hope of becoming in due time a country gentle- 
man, and so being able to live on his rents without care or 
labour of his own. The marriage of the old gentleman, 
however, and the appearance of an heiress on the stage, 
effectually extinguished the young man's fondly cherished 
hopes. But that which came in the form of a calamity 
turned out a blessing in disguise : it supplied the stimulus 
which was needed to mould and invigorate his character. 
The event that spoilt his prospect of an inheritance tore 
him away, before it was too late, from a career of idle 
sport, already begun, and projected his life upon a course 
of honourable industry. In 1761, at the age of twenty- 
three, he married Mary, daughter of Andrew Hamilton of 
Avondale, who had suffered much in person and property 
from incursions of the rebels in 1745. Thomas, their 
youngest son, originator and head of the eminent publish- 
ing house of Hamilton, Adams, and Co., London, still sur- 



NOTICES OF THE FAMILY. 



3 



vives at a patriarchal age, in full possession of all his 
faculties, a pattern at once of the successful merchant, the 
accomplished gentleman, and the humble yet hopeful dis- 
ciple of Christ. 

William, an elder son, Dr. James Hamilton's father, 
was born on the 4th of February 1780, at Longridge in the 
parish of Stonehouse. The course of his early education 
is summed up in two short sentences of his autobiography, 
" The Bible was my class book. My mother was my 
tutor." Somewhat imperfectly equipped, according to his 
own account, for want of a competent classical instructor 
within reach, he entered the University of Edinburgh in 
November 1796. Prosecuting each successive branch of 
his studies with extraordinary zeal, he completed with 
great credit his course of philosophy and theology, and 
was licensed as a probationer of the Scottish Church by 
the Presbytery of Hamilton in December 1804. After 
having served about three years as assistant successively 
in the parishes of Broughton and New Kilpatrick, he was 
ordained minister of St. Andrew's Chapel, Dundee, in 
December 1807. There, with a wide sphere and abundant 
opportunities, he threw himself with his whole heart into 
the work of the ministry ; but as the chapel was unen- 
dowed, and did not confer on its minister the privilege of a 
seat in any ecclesiastical court, he judged it his duty, within 
a period of two years, to accept a proffered presentation 
to the parish of Strathblane in the county of Stirling. In 
this place he continued serving God in the gospel with 
signal devotion and with much practical success till his 
death in 1835. As notices of his character and work from 



4 



SKETCH OF HIS FATHER. 



almost the beginning of his ministry in Strathblane will 
naturally emerge as we proceed, and entwine themselves 
round our own proper narrative, it is not necessary at this 
stage to prolong the sketch of his course. In the mean- 
time, however, and by anticipation, it may be well to in- 
troduce the estimate of that gifted father, which was 
formed and expressed in mature life by his still more 
gifted son : — 

" In that manse the animating presence was a ' house- 
mother/ who filled every corner with her kindly, cheerful 
influence ; but somewhat awfully enshrined in his studious 
sanctuary, sate with brief interval his uncle, 1 the Rev. 
William Hamilton, D.D. August in an altitude of six 
feet two, with raven locks brushed down on his high brow, 
with the darkest of eyes flashing terrible disdain on all 
shabbiness, as well as indignation at all sin, he was an 
object of uneasy respect to ' moderate' and temporizing 
co -presbyters, and to some of the more jovial spirits 
amongst his own parishioners was so formidable, that 
rather than encounter him they would escape from his 
approach by a retreat more rapid than dignified. At the 
same time, his affections were so warm, his heart so tender, 
his standard of Christian attainment so lofty, his spiritua- 
lity of mind was in such grand harmony with his intel- 
lectual majesty, his whole nature was so noble, that it was 
with an admiring, uplooking affection that he was beloved 
by those who sufficiently knew him. His greatest failing 

1 Tliis sketch occurs in a memoir of his cousin, the Rev. James Hamilton, 
only son of the publisher, a most devoted and exemplary minister of the Church 
of England, Eeetor of Beddington, Surrey. 



SKETCH OF HIS FATHER. 



5 



was a morbid sense of time's preciousness. Every moment 
was grudged which he did not give to his parish or his 
library. Even during the hasty repast his mind would be 
absorbed in the Magdeburg Centuriators or Owen on Per- 
severance; and what with forced journeys, and rising 
excessively early, and the absence of all recreation, he 
may be said to have shortened his days in redeeming the 
time. Eor, in regard to this as well as the other talent,*, 
the maxim holds true — ' There is that scattereth, and yet 
increaseth/ 

" Although most generous in distributing his books, his 
money, and his influence, it must be confessed that his 
reluctance to part with a minute was miserly. Even the 
snatches surrendered to his family and friends were given 
with a grudge ; and forgetful of the good which through 
his vast acquirements and conversational powers he could 
confer on others, it seemed never to strike him that in this 
form of beneficence he might after all be lending to the 
Lord, and fulfilling an important ministry. 

" Still it was an impressive sight to witness that life so 
intense and devoted : the day begun with a long perusal 
of Kennicott's Hebrew Bible, and the evening closing in 
with the contracted Greek of Eusebius, or the stately 
pages of Justin Martyr, under the brightest blaze of the 
argand lamp, and all the space between filled up with 
vigorous study and visits of mercy. Even now, and 
recalling it over an interval of thirty years, it is affecting 
to remember the work which that faithful pastor did for 
his little flock of a thousand people ; the sermons which 
he prepared for a congregation of ploughmen and calico- 



6 



CHARACTER OF HIS 



printers, as carefully as if they had been the most learned 
in the land ; the classes, the libraries, the savings' banks, 
which he established ; the innumerable lectures on popu- 
lar science with which he enlivened their winter evenings, 
and the good books with which he furnished their homes. 
And as his image arises again in that rustic pulpit, with 
its green baize drapery and the westering sun shining in 
through the plane-trees surrounding the little sanctuary, 
whilst with eyes suffused, and a countenance radiant with 
unutterable rapture, he expatiated on the love of God and 
the glories of the great redemption, we do not wonder 
that it was often felt to be heaven on earth ; nor do we 
wonder that from the neighbouring city many came out 
into the wilderness to see." 

On the 19th of January 1813, soon after his settlement 
in Strathblane, William Hamilton married Jane, daughter 
of William King of Lonend, Paisley, 1 a man who com- 
bined in a high degree diligence in his secular busi- 
ness with fervency of spirit in the service of the Lord. 
He was a citizen of Paisley at a time when that place 
was remarkable for the observance of the Sabbath, 
and the almost universal practice of family prayer. 
Manufactures, in the earlier stage of their growth, did not 
demoralize and degrade the population, perhaps because 
then the increase of the inhabitants had not yet outgrown 
the means of general education and religious instruction. 

1 Dr. Robert Burns, of Paisley, presided at the marriage ceremony, and 
survives in bodily health and mental vigour to this present day. (Such was 
the fact when this sheet was sent to the printer ; but ere it returned the racq 
of the venerable patriarch was run. He died at Toronto in August 1869. ) 



MATERNAL GRANDFATHER 



7 



"Paisley," Rowland Hill lias said, "is tlie paradise of 
Scotland, for there Christians love one another/' 

Mr. King was a cotton-spinner, and he must have been 
a man of enterprise, for his factory, according to the 
statistical account, " was the first that was erected in Scot- 
land." He seems moreover to have ruled his own house with 
as much exactitude and rigour as his milL His daughter, 
Mrs. Hamilton, was wont to tell her children how two 
boys, her brothers, lost their caps, as boys are apt to do, 
in a gust of wind on Saturday night after all the shops 
were shut, and how on the Sabbath morning, which, how- 
ever, fortunately turned out fine, they were led through 
the streets to church by their father, one firmly grasped 
in either hand, with bare heads, in spite of all their 
remonstrances. This God-fearing Scottish cotton-spinner 
did not see why an idle Sabbath should be spent at home 
because the boys were somewhat ashamed to march to 
the church bareheaded This is the sort of stuff of which 
the men who made Paisley in those days were themselves 
made. 

But this man, so resolute where duty was concerned, 
was tender and liberal when any case of need appeared. 
When his course was run, and they had carried his dust 
to the grave, a crowd of dependants and pensioners were 
admitted to the house, in order to receive some mark of 
kindness in memory of the dead. Among them one poor 
widow was observed with streaming eyes gazing on his 
portrait that hung on the wall. " That," she said, " that 
is the very way he looked when he gave me the twenty- 
pound note to buy my laddie back frae the soldiers." 



3 



CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED 



This, to the bystanders, was the first intimation of the 
fact 

James Hamilton's mother, from whom he learned so 
much, and whom he loved so well, was the daughter of 
this Scottish patriarch. On both sides he enjoyed the 
unspeakable privilege of being the seed of the righteous. 
He was born at Lonend, Paisley, on the 27 th November 
1814. It was through the accident of his mother's tem- 
porary residence in her father's house that Paisley became 
his birthplace, and in March 1815, when little more than 
three months old, he was removed to Strathblane, which 
was to all practical intents the place of his nativity, 
and continued to be his home till the death of his father 
in 1835. 

The other children of the family were — 

William King, born 26th April 1816, minister of the Free Church 
at Stonehouse. 

Elizabeth, born 24th May 1818 ; died 13th September 1831. 

Mary, born 12th April 1820; died at Edinburgh 5th November 1838. 

Jane, born 19th April 1822, married Mr. James Walker, minister of 
the Free Church, Carnwath, 1st January 1847 ; died 15th April 1849. 

Andrew, born 14th December 1826 ; skilled in European languages 
and general literature ; author of an interesting and valuable work on 
Denmark. 1 

The circumstances attending his birth fixed the atten- 
tion of his parents with a peculiar intensity on their eldest 
child, and led them to dedicate him to God with singular 
urgency at the time, and with undeviating constancy after- 

1 Sixteen Months in the Danish Isles. By Andrew Hamilton, Mem- 
ber of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of the North at Copenhagen. 
2 vols. London : Richard Bentley. 1852. 



WITH HIS BIRTH. 



9 



wards. The record, written at the time and on the spot 
by his father, although it touches private suffering in 
plainer terms than we should have chosen to employ, 
seems a thing so sacred that we dare not mutilate it. 
Only " the day shall declare " how much the effectual 
fervent prayer of this righteous man availed to bring down 
upon the babe in all his subsequent life a double portion 
of the Spirit. If the agonizing cry of the trembling 
parent seem to draw aside the curtain, and admit a stranger 
further within the family precincts than a biography ordi- 
narily ventures to do, let the reader tread softly the ground 
which sorrow makes sacred, and reverence the grief that 
brings the sufferer so near to God. We transcribe from 
the journal of Dr. William Hamilton : — 

" Loxexd, 26^A Xovernber 1814. — This to me has been a 
day of darkness, perplexity, and distress. Early on Friday 
morning my dear wife was taken ill. Her labo^ir became 
severe on Friday afternoon at four. There has been no 
remission during all the evening, during all the night, and 
no appearance of abatement even this forenoon. Her 
spirits are sinking, her strength failing, and her cries 
pierce my heart . and harrow up my soul. Lord, shall the 
children be brought to the birth, and shall there not be 
strength to bring forth ? Shall the desire of mine eyes be 
taken away, when on the point of becoming a mother ? 
Lord, what can be the meaning of this dark dispensation ? 
If she be now removed, what end has been served by her 
union and mine ? Oh send forth thy light and truth : 
lead her through the dark valley, and conduct her forth 
in safety and comfort. Here I give her and myself and 



10 



his father's journal. 



the infant up to Thee. Do with ns what seemeth good in 
Thy sight. Only make ns Thine own : Thine in time, 
and Thine through eternity ; that if we be soon separated 
in this vale of tears, we may meet in the regions of bliss, 
and spend our eternity in Thy presence and in Thy 
praise. 

" 27 'ill November. Lord's day. — 'Weeping may endure 
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' This morn- 
ing, at three minutes before four, my wife was safely de- 
livered of a son. my soul, never forget all the fear and 
pain which thou hast felt on her account; and all the 
vows and resolutions which thou hast made before the 
Lord to devote the remainder of my life to His service and 
glory ; to promote the temporal comfort and spiritual im- 
provement of my wife ; to guard against levity and folly ; 
to suppress peevishness and irritability; to cultivate a 
meek and quiet spirit. Lord, I am Thine ; Thy vows 
are upon me. Seal my soul till the day of complete re- 
demption." 

While in substance this monologue is sublime, it be- 
comes in form dramatic. What a burst of joy flows forth 
when the light breaks at length ! Nor was this goodness 
like the morning cloud. These vows were paid. This 
suppliant cleaved as close to God his Saviour in subse- 
quent prosperity, as in that day of darkness. 

In an enumeration of signal providences in his behalf, 
at various periods of his life, Dr. Hamilton, the father, has 
given an account of a dangerous illness through which his 
eldest child passed in infancy : — 

" On the Lord's day, August 6, 1815, my eldest child, 



ILLNESS IN INFANCY. 



11 



wlio was little more than eight months, and who had "been 
seriously ill for many days, seemed in the morning to be 
growing worse. As the case was not desperate, I went to 
the church, and went through the forenoon service, in the 
hope that his complaint would take a favourable turn by 
the time that it was over. On my return I found him 
worse. I had left the people in the expectation of sermon 
in the afternoon, and therefore was again obliged, though 
with a painful heart, to ascend the pulpit. On the close 
of the last service he appeared to be rapidly sinking ; and 
on asking the surgeon his opinion of the case, he declared 
that the child could not long survive sunset. This con- 
firmed all my fears ; but since my dear child's decease 
was so near, I rejoiced that I had received warning of its 
approach ; requested the surgeon to withdraw, and fell on 
my knees, with my wife by my side, by the bed of our 
infant. I cried to God that we would not contend with 
Him — that our child and ourselves were wholly His — 
that we gave our infant as a free-will offering — that we 
were thankful that He had given us warning of His plea- 
sure, and were glad, since such was His holy will, to have 
the privilege of surrendering voluntarily such a child into 
His hands. Again and again I cried, ' Father, glorify Thy 
name.' My ambition was that His name should be glori- 
fied. And, like a God of infinite grace, he speedily glori- 
fied His blessed name far beyond all that we could expect. 
He guided the skill of the surgeon in another way by 
bleeding, to preserve our infant ; and within forty-five 
minutes after He had enabled my wife and myself to sur- 
render our infant into His hands, we saw decided symptoms 



12 



ILLNESS IN INFANCY. 



of the abatement of inflammatory attack. Oh, who is a 
God like unto our God ! and what must eternity be like 
in the presence of Him who spared not His own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all ; and on earth hears our 
prayers, and treats us with such ineffable gentleness and 
tenderness ! During the season of agitating suspense, I 
enjoyed uncommonly elevated views of the majesty, love, 
and all- sufficiency of the Lord; and saw most powerfully 
that though my child were removed, His power, and grace, 
and glory would remain unchanged, and that in the riches 
of His grace, and all-sufficiency of His nature, there was 
still an infinite fulness from which to supply all my need, 
and replenish and delight my soul with every consolation 
and joy." 1 

From the time of Moses downwards, it has been observed 
that, as a general rule, those who are destined to be leaders 
of Israel in their maturity have been in their childhood 
drawn out of the water. The hearer of prayer knows that 
it is " out of the depths " that the most urgent cries ascend 
to the throne ; and he seems, in paternal wisdom and love, 
to permit the danger to become imminent in order to in- 
crease the fervency of the prayer. In whatever way the 
fact may be explained, the fact itself cannot be disputed, 
that, for the most part, those who have occupied a high 
place, and accomplished a great work in the Church, have 
been brought to the "large place" of their mature activity 
" through fire and water " in some form during the earlier 
period of their lives. 

Among Dr. Hamilton's miscellaneous papers, I have 

1 Memoir of Dr. William Hamilton, p. 98. 



SKETCH OF STRATHBLANE. 



13 



found a characteristic sketch of Strathblane, the home of 
his childhood, which, though without date and unfinished, 
I insert here as the shortest and best method of conveying 
to the reader some conception of the place and its 
people : — 

" Sheltered from the north by an outlier of the Ochils, 
and shut in at either end by its own Dunglass and Dun- 
goiach, with the perpetual Sabbath of the hills smiling 
down on its industrious valley, and with its bright little 
river trotting cheerily on towards Loch Lomond, few 
parishes in Scotland could be more secluded or lovely 
than Strathblane. With its southern aspect, it made the 
most of the sunshine, and, if we could trust our childish 
recollections, we should say that nowhere else within these 
seas were the breezes so soft ; that nowhere else did 
summer linger so long. But the memory of childhood is 
eclectic, and we begin life as we end it, wearing spectacles, 
of topaz, or some substance akin to the transparent gold 
of St. John. Mine were amber- coloured. In the dim 
winter days I used to look with envy at certain spots far 
up the mountain, for I fancied that they were suffused 
with constant sunshine. It was a great mortification to 
find at last that they were only patches of withered grass ; 
and, for fear that in like manner the glory should go off, 
there are other early illusions which I have refrained from 
inspecting too closely. Forty years ago, Strathblane still 
retained some traces of primitive simplicity. The name 
of Eob Eoy filled a larger place in the imaginations of the 
people than the Duke of Wellington ; and all who had 
reached fourscore could recall the times of the Pretender. 



14 



SKETCH OF STRATHBLANE. 



Mrs. Provan had been eight years old when a detachment 
of the rebel army passed through the Muir of Fintry, and 
as she was the only one left at home the Highlanders 
coaxed and threatened her by turns to reveal the hiding 
place of the meal and cheeses ; but although she had seen 
them buried in the moss, the little maid was firm, and 
neither swords nor " sweeties " could extort her secret. 
Some of the old men still wore the broad blue bonnet, and 
a larger proportion of the old women in showery weather 
drew the hood of their scarlet mantles over their snowy 
mutches. The arrival of the first umbrella was a com- 
paratively recent and well-remembered era. The fortunate 
possessor was a Miss Eobertson of Leddrigreen, and the 
first day of its public exhibition was a rainy Sabbath. 
Being apprised of its presence in church, all the youngsters 
turned out to view the phenomenon, and as the old lady 
advanced through the descending flood under covert of 
her moving tent, they eyed her with such admiration as 
some of us have felt the first time we saw a man go down 
in a diving-bell. 

"As in all primitive places, the people were by no 
means locomotive. Margaret Freeland, for upwards of 
eighty years, never slept under any roof but her own. 
Once she was overtaken in Glasgow by a terrible storm, 
and her hostess would not let her return that evening ; 
but as, owing to the strangeness of her situation, she lay 
awake all night, she still could boast that she had never 
slept out of her own bed. One man had visited the great 
metropolis. This venturous spirit was John Livingston, a 
tailor, and to distinguish him from John Livingston the 



EARLY LITERARY HABITS. 



15 



precentor (alias 1 singing Johnnie'), lie went by the name 
of ' London John/ We had for a long time no foreigners ; 
the only exception "being a cobbler, an old soldier from 
England. William Orme and the villagers of Edinkiln 
did not amalgamate. To him they appeared coarse and 
slatternly ; and, with tea and fried bacon to his breakfast, 
but with seldom a decent Sunday suit, he appeared to 
them little better than a glutton and a self- coddling 
sensualist. I suspect, however, that his Doric neighbours 
might have taken, with advantage, a leaf from the soft 
spoken stranger's book of etiquette." 

Like many boys, who have ultimately become preachers, 
and some who have not, he was much addicted to preach- 
ing at a very tender age. In one important respect, how- 
ever, his juvenile efforts in this direction were peculiar ; 
his were not extemporaneous harangues, but regular 
written sermons, not spoken, but read in select circles of 
his companions. These discourses, when he was between 
nine and ten years of age, were pronounced by one of his 
cousins, some years his senior, to be better than those of 
a certain noted parish minister in Lanarkshire. Whether 
the youthful critic was too partial to his friend, or whether 
the dignified clergyman with whom he was compared was 
not a formidable rival, does not appear. One feature of 
this picture is interesting to us, — the mimic sermons were 
written and read. The literary instinct already appears 
in germ ; the small seed is invested with a species of 
sublimity, when we think of the tree that may spring 
from it. 

The education of the family at this time was conducted 



16 



HABITS OF STUDY. 



at home by a resident tutor ; and his brother, who was his 
fellow- student, bears witness that, though exceedingly 
fond of play, James would on no account consent to 
abridge the hours set apart for study. He was not a 
book-worm from inability or disinclination for sport. His 
mind, even from childhood, was singularly well balanced. 
Judgment took command from the first, and mere inclina- 
tion was resolutely kept in subordination. 

Under a general law of the manse, the boys were per- 
mitted to spend an hour or two of the evening in the 
library, even while their father was at work there, but one 
stern condition was attached to the privilege — absolute 
silence. " You may come and read as long as you please, 
and when you are wearied you may retire, but you may 
not open your lips while here." William, the younger 
brother, seems, for the most part, to have considered the 
privilege dear at the price ; but although he was sparing 
in the use of it himself, he bears witness that " James 
enjoyed it mightily for many years." 

A reminiscence of this fascination of his childhood 
occurs appropriately in the introduction to a work of his 
ripest years, Our Christian Classics. " In the following 
pages the compiler must plead guilty to a certain amount 
of self-indulgence. It was Ms lot to be born in the midst 
of old books. Before he could read them they had become 
a kind of companions, and, in their coats of brown calf 
and white vellum, great was his admiration for tomes as 
tall as himself. By and by, when he was allowed to open 
the leather portals, and look in on the solemn authors in 
peaked beards and wooden ruffs, his reverence deepened 



EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES. 



17 



for the mighty days of the great departed ; and with some 
vague prepossession, his first nse of the art of reading was 
to mimic an older example, and sit poring for hours over 
Manton and Hopkins, Eeynolds and Horton. Indeed, so 
intense did this old-fashioned affection grow, that he can 
well remember, when compelled to shut the volume and 
retire to rest, how, night after night, he carried to his cot 
some bulky folio, and only fell asleep to dream of a 
paradise where there was no end of books, and nothing to 
interrupt the reader. And although it is impossible to 
recall, without a smile, such precocious pedantry, the 
writer is grateful for tastes then formed and for im- 
pressions then acquired. Busier years have made those 
early haunts forbidden, but not altogether forgotten 
ground." 

Besides sitting for hours in the library reading sombre 
folios, the boy took great delight in listening to the con- 
versation of those grave and learned men who frequented 
the manse as the friends and fellow-workers of his father. 
Chief of these conversational attractions was a certain Mr. 
Bell, who resided in the neighbouring parish of Campsie, 
author of a geography which bears his name, and annotator 
of Rollin's Ancient History. He is described as having been 
bodily a short, thickset man, with coarse features, two or 
three huge warts on his face, and one eye nearly closed ; 
mentally a walking encyclopedia, from which a stream of 
knowledge flowed like oil from a barrel when the bung 
comes out. The chief difficulty that occurred in this literary 
intercourse was to get Mr. Bell stopped after he had begun to 
flow. These were precious opportunities for our student. 

B 



18 



EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES. 



Silent at his father's knee he sat, while the rest of the 
children were at play, drinking in knowledge as thirsty- 
lips drink water from the cooling stream. As the re- 
doubtable geographer warmed with his theme the eye that 
was at liberty to move glanced grandly in unison with the 
versatile evolutions of its owner. Nor was this man a 
dictionary merely ; although his mind was stored with the 
knowledge of the world, his treasure lay in heaven, and 
thitherward his heart tended, like the needle trembling 
towards its pole. The time at length came when the rural 
philosopher must die. His friend, the minister of Strath- 
blane, hastened to his bed-side as soon as he heard of his 
illness. On his return his family observed him deeply 
affected. Mr. Bell, he informed them, was dying ; but 
such a deathbed ! It seemed not a dying, but a transla- 
tion. This man of learning was leaning like a child on 
the Saviour's breast. He was saying and singing, as he 
walked down the sides of the dark valley, " I will not fear, 
for thou art with me." 

By the conversation of such men, and the example of 
his father, besides the books which he read, the mind of 
the scholar was stirred, informed, and moulded. Although 
I have not found any record that assigns the time and 
manner of a decisive heart change, the spiritual life at this 
period seems to have developed itself concurrently with 
the intellectual. By its fruits in those early days we 
know the existence and strength of his faith, rather than 
from any articulate testimony. Every Saturday night some 
God-fearing men, chiefly from the neighbouring bleachfields 
and print-works, convened in the manse for the purpose of 



FIRST JOURNAL. 



19 



reading the Scriptures together, and offering in unison 
specific prayer for the minister and his ministry on the 
following Sabbath. The minister's eldest son was a con- 
stituent member of the meeting ; the fragile scholar boy 
and the brawny labouring men, with one heart, but differ- 
ing voices, offered alternately the united supplications of 
the company for the descent of the Spirit to make the 
word of the Kingdom powerful in the assembled congre- 
gation on the Lord's day. 

The earliest journal that has come into my possession 
is dated 31st December 1827, and bears as title on the 
blank leaf — " Journal of the literary occupations of James 
Hamilton." I look with deep interest on the faded paper 
and boyish handwriting of this humble and now venerable 
book. Here a life in earnest begins. The spring that 
bursts from the ground here, we now know, became a great 
river ere it reached the sea. The student w T as at this time 
only thirteen years of age; but he bears himself most 
manfully even at the outset. As a student, from the very 
first, he is a workman who "needeth not to be ashamed." 
The first lines breathe the air of a healthy, hearty earnest- 
ness. He has girt up his loins for a life-long journey. 
He will not look behind him. Here is a student who 
thoroughly loves his work, and walks into it with a will. 

The first ten months of 1828 seem to have been spent 
at home, partly in miscellaneous reading, and partly in 
specific preparation for entering the Greek and Latin 
classes in the University of Glasgow. The records of the 
successive months contain little more than a list of the 
books that he has read. His appetite was from the first 



20 



FIRST SESSION AT COLLEGE. 



voracious. Indeed any judicious and experienced adviser, 
on glancing over these records at the time, would certainly 
have recommended a very great reduction in the quantity 
of the boy's reading. But the event justified the practice 
which at the time was dictated only by the mental appe- 
tite of the youthful scholar. At the moment any observer 
might have seen that he read much ; but in due time it 
became evident that he also read well. The mass of mis- 
cellaneous information which he drank in during those 
early years was by some peculiar instinctive process 
stowed all safely away, not in a promiscuous heap, but in 
regularly arranged and labelled compartments, ready to 
come forth at call, as they might successively be needed 
in the various exigencies of his subsequent life. 

The variety is as noticeable as the vigour of his reading. 
" Eead Bonar on genuine religion, and the articles Opheo- 
logy, Spectre, Nile, Mleometer, and the life of William 
Cowper in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

" Wrote an essay on population. 30th September. — Slept 
in the new manse for the first time." Such is a specimen 
of the entries in this juvenile day-book. 

It is not our business here to discuss the propriety of 
the custom, prevalent in Scotland, of sending boys to 
college at a very tender age. It is enough for us to 
record the fact that James Hamilton entered the Univer- 
sity of Glasgow on the 3d of November 1828, before he 
had completed his fourteenth year. His two classes for 
the first session were the Latin and the Greek. Mr. 
Walker, who presided over the Latin class, was an accom- 
plished man, and a competent scholar, but by that time 



FIRST SESSION AT COLLEGE. 



21 



enfeebled through, advanced age. The Professor of Greek 
was the late Sir Daniel Sandford, justly designated by his 
eminent pupil, James Halley, "the light of Glasgow 
College." I have never known any teacher equal to Pro- 
fessor Sandford in the art of exciting the enthusiasm of 
his pupils for himself and his theme. By his tenure of 
the chair, alas ! comparatively short, a great impulse was 
given to the study of Greek in the west of Scotland. 

On the 7th of November, four days after his entrance, 
the student's first letter home was written. As it is the 
earliest example that has come into our hands, we submit 
this primary epistle to the reader entire : — 

" Glasgow, November 1th, 1828. 

" My dear Father, — I paid my subscription, or rather 
your subscription, to the library yesterday, and one pound 
of deposit; so you may have any book you wish, by sending 
me word, provided it be not a novel, and have no valuable 
engravings in it. 

"On Wednesday afternoon I felt very sorry at your 
going away. But after a little conversation with the 
Miss Marshalls, and reading a piece of Horace, my spirits 
recovered. I hope you and my dear mother (for so I 
must begin to call mamma now) got home in perfect 
safety, and found all at the manse quite well. 

" Yesterday I was called on for the first time to read 
Sallust, and received a great many compliments from Pro- 
fessor Walker. 

" I do not know who is likely to be Lord Eector this 
year. I understand that Lord John Campbell is to be a 
candidate. But as there is no student to whom I choose 



22 



THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 



to speak, with the exception of Mr. Archibald MTntyre, 
I cannot say anything about the matter. And, indeed, if 
you take no more interest in the matter than I do, it 
would be preposterous in me to trouble you with any 
conjecture about it. 

" I am as comfortable here as I think it possible I could 
be. Enjoying, as I do, perfect health, and having every 
comfort that I could desire, I have much cause of grati- 
tude to God. 

" Miss Betsey Marshall is in much the same way as 
when you were here. The ladies here desire to be kindly 
remembered to you all. And now, my dear father, fare- 
well. "Write soon. Give my kindest love to my mother, 
aunt, William, and all my sisters, Mr. MTntyre, and 
Andrew, if he chooses to take it ; and believe me, your 
ever affectionate James." 

Brave boy ! Not yet fourteen : mother and manse for 
the first time clean out of sight : plunged into the heart 
of a great city ; pushing his way along crowded streets, 
where every face is strange. There is a fit of home- sick- 
ness ; he does not deny the fact ; but neither does he 
whimper over it. A talk with his landlady and " a piece 
of Horace " put the disease to flight, and we hear of it no 
more. 

A journal, written during the summer of 1831, assuming 
rather than asserting the commencement of his spiritual 
life, is mainly occupied with circumstances that helped 
or hindered its development and progress. Consider- 
ing his training and his mental constitution, and the 
method of Providence ordinarily followed in similar 



OF HIS SPIEITUAL LIFE. 



23 



cases, I think it is altogether probable that the new life 
began at an age so early that it could not be definitely 
marked either by himself or others ; and that, through 
the blessing of God on a pious nurture and holy example, 
it grew with his growth. At the same time it is evident 
that in his case, as well as in the experience of almost all 
other Christians, there were periods of sudden and great 
advancement in the divine life. An illness under which 
he laboured, and which he believed to be unto death, 
though certainly not the occasion of his first dedication to 
Christ, seems to have been the immediate means of much 
growth in grace. I look with peculiar interest on the 
notes which he has left of his experience during that sick- 
ness. They reveal to me some things which I could not 
otherwise have understood so well in his maturer life. 
There was such a strength and steadiness, such a depth 
and permanence in his personal religion, when called to 
mingle for many years with the miscellaneous society of 
London, that, even in absence of information, would have 
led one to suppose that his faith at an earlier date must 
have been, through some special divine dealing, very deeply 
and widely rooted. The sight of his private day-book, 
written at Strathblane during the summer of 1831, removes 
the veil, and explains some things that otherwise would 
have been to some extent inexplicable. The Lord doeth all 
things well, and makes all things work together for good 
to His own. The Lord sees the end from the beginning, 
and prepares His own instruments in time for the work 
which he foresees to be necessary. It is not while the 
sun is shining that the roots of a plant are refreshed and 



24 



APPREHENSION OF AN 



invigorated for resisting a subsequent drought, and perfect- 
ing its fruit in harvest. It is under the dark cloud that 
the process of strengthening the foundation goes on. God's 
husbandry in the spiritual sphere follows the analogy of 
that in the natural. It is in the dark and cloudy day, 
ordinarily, that the new creature, also the planting of the 
Lord, makes most progress in getting itself " rooted and 
grounded " in the hidden depths of redeeming love. By 
the wise and kind providence of God this youth, while 
not yet seventeen years of age, was brought and kept for a 
while in his own consciousness close to the edge of life and 
near the entrance of eternity. There he acquainted him- 
self with God ; there he became strong in the faith for 
future work. There the vessel, previously chosen, was 
purified, enlarged, strengthened for receiving in greater 
measure the name of Christ, and pouring out that name as 
precious ointment to the end of his life, and wheresoever 
his lot might be cast. 

"Sabbath, May 29th, 1831.— The kind providence of 
God has hitherto upheld me in the enjoyment of much 
health and comfort ; but now I seem to feel that my 
connexion with all that is seen and temporal is near a 
close. A pain which I have felt at intervals in my side for 
some time past reminds me that I am not to live always, 
and probably not long. It is a solemn thing to die. The 
clearest of God's saints have shrunk at the prospect of 
crossing the dark waters, and unless they had had the 
arm of Immanuel to lean upon, the floods would have 
overwhelmed their souls. for an interest in the Ee- 
deemer's righteousness ! Could I assure myself of pos- 



EARLY REMOVAL. 



25 



sessing that, death would be welcome. Lord, say unto 
me that I am thine, and I am prepared for what Thou 
wilt, and what time Thou wilt." 

" Saturday , June 1 lih, 1831. — To-morrow the Sacrament 
of the Supper is to be dispensed here. for the wedding 
garment ! This may- be the last opportunity that I will 
have of commemorating the death of the Eedeemer. 
that my desires were more strongly drawn out after him ! 
He is the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether 
lovely. that I could see more of his beauty and comeli- 
ness ! Lord, grant that in encompassing Thy table my 
faith may be strong, my love to Thee ardent, my sorrow 
and humiliation for sin greater than they have ever been 
heretofore. Open the windows of heaven, and pour out a 
blessing till there be not room enough to receive. I have 
renewed my covenant with Thee. Enable me to remem- 
ber and keep it. May it be an everlasting covenant, 
ordered in all things, and sure, and never to be forgotten. 

" I should like to do something for the cause of God 
before I go hence, and be no more. For some time I 
have spent a few hours occasionally in writing a life of the 
eminent Mr. Baxter. It is nearly finished. This week I 
commenced writing a small collection of hymns for the 
Lord's Supper. Some of them were so pleasant to myself 
that I thought it possible that, were a number of them col- 
lected and printed,, they might be the means of cheering 
some of Zion's pilgrims on their heavenward journey. I 
have also contemplated a translation of Arrowsmith's 
Tactica Sacra. To the execution of these undertakings I 
would devote what time can be properly spared from my 
other studies." 



26 



RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 



"Sabbath, June 1 2th, 1831. — This day sat down at the 
table of the Lord. My own impression is that I shall not 
hereafter taste of the fruit of the vine till that day that I 
shall drink it new in my heavenly Father's kingdom. 
Had some enjoyment in the ordinance, but too little 
spirituality for a dying creature. I have this day solemnly 
and publicly said that whatever others do, I shall serve 
the Lord. Help me, Lord, to keep this resolution, and 
may the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
not allure me from Thy ways. Guide me by Thy kind 
counsel through life, and after death receive me to Thy 
glory. Amen." 

In the earlier portion of the summer recess, on the 
occasion of the dispensation of the Lord's Supper at Strath- 
blane, he devoted an entire week to religious reading, 
meditation, self-examination, and prayer. By these exer- 
cises his sense of sin was greatly increased, as his tender 
and full confessions show; but though he increased in 
the knowledge of his own unworthiness, his hope and 
happiness did not fade, for the more he discovered of his 
own need the more he saw of the Eedeemer's fulness. 
On the whole, while his religious exercises at this time 
certainly ran mainly in the direction of a keen self-dissec- 
tion and stern self-condemnation, the tone of his mind 
remained thoroughly healthful. His faith throughout 
remained firm and his hope bright. Severe and protracted 
introspection did not in his case generate in any de- 
gree a morbid moroseness. It made his piety stronger 
without diminishing its elasticity and cheerfulness. 

Considering the form which his religious activity at 



EELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 



27 



this time assumed, and the views of those authors with 
whose works he was most familiar, we need not be sur- 
prised to learn that he wrote and signed a formal personal 
covenant, dedicating himself to God in the gospel of his 
Son. In order that those who knew him in later years, 
and admired the buoyant, hopeful, winsome type of Chris- 
tianity which he exhibited in the various circles of Lon- 
don society, may know something of the roots which bore 
so many sparkling clusters, I think it my duty to give 
this document in full. It is written out at the end of the 
book, and under the corresponding date in the journal 
occurs a notice of the circumstances connected with it : — 
"... Endeavoured to humble myself before the Lord 
because of these sins, and plead the righteousness of Jesus 
as my only ground of acceptance. I wrote down the form 
of a personal covenant, finding that that which I made 
this time two years wanted some things which I now 
wished to be in it. But the church and the Sabbath- 
school and the prayer-meeting prevented me from pro- 
ceeding any further that day ; so I this evening did on 
my bended knees, in the presence of the God of heaven 
and earth, set my worthless name to the covenant, and 
vouch him to be my God and Father, the Lord Jesus 
to be my only Saviour and Intercessor, and the Holy 
Spirit to be my sanctifier and guide. This done, I be- 
sought a special blessing on the approaching communion 
for myself and fellow-worshippers. 

" THE COVENAOT. 

" Lord, I have sinned in Adam, and at my coming 



28 



PERSONAL COVENANT. 



into the world I was covered with guilt-pollution. In 
the first actings of my infant years I manifested the 
strength of that depravity within which made me prone 
to every evil and backward to all good. The whole tenor 
of my life has been a building of actual guilt upon the 
foundation of original corruption. I am a dying as well 
as an immortal creature, and if I die in my sins I must 
perish everlastingly. But no efforts of my own can save 
me from my sins, for the longer I live I sink the deeper 
in the mire ; nor do my efforts to extricate myself avail. 
Unless a stronger arm come to my deliverance I must 
perish ; but such a deliverance is to be had in the Lord 
Jesus. Upon the sure testimony of Thy own Word I 
believe that a gracious covenant was from all eternity 
entered into by Jehovah, the first person in the blessed 
Trinity, upon the part of heaven, and by Jehovah, the 
second person in the Godhead, even Immanuel, the second 
Adam, on the part of lost sinners, whereby, on condition 
of His fulfilling all righteousness, the elect should be 
saved. And I believe that the terms of the covenant 
have been fulfilled by his meritorious life and death, and 
that now the way of salvation is opened up, and that he 
who believeth on Jesus shall not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life, and that henceforth there is no condemnation 
to them who are in Him. 

" Lord, I would ascribe everlasting praise unto Thy 
name for this well-ordered covenant, and would now take 
hold of it for my soul's eternal salvation, through faith in 
Christ. I acquiesce in, love, and admire, the covenant, as 
all my salvation and all my desire. I embrace Jesus 



PEKSONAL COVENANT. 



29 



Christ as he is offered to my acceptance in the Gospel, in 
all His offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, — as my 
Surety, Intercessor, and Eedeemer; and in him God, as 
my God and Father, and the Holy Spirit as my Sanctifier, 
Comforter, and Gnide. 

" Every sin that has had dominion over me I renounce, 
grieving that so many idols have had dominion over me, 
and praying that grace from on high may be given me to 
carry on, in the strength of my mighty Eedeemer, an 
unremitting and successful war against all my spiritual 
enemies. 

" To Thee and to Thy service I surrender all the 
faculties Thou hast bestowed upon me, and pray that 
Thou wouldest honour me to be successful in Thy service. 
Grant unto me more and more to know Thee. Strengthen 
in me that which is good, and root out that which is evil. 
Make Thy grace sufficient for my need, and perfect Thy 
strength in my weakness. Support me in the time of 
trial and temptation, and stand by me in the hour of 
death. Do Thou then lift upon me the light of Thy 
reconciled countenance, and make me to behold it. And 
may all near and dear unto me possess an interest in the 
blessings of salvation. 

" Lord, behold me, I am thy servant ; and in token 
that I am thine I do hereto subscribe my unworthy 
name, James Hamilton. 

"June StJi, 1832. 

" To Father, Son, and Spirit, one God, be glory for ever. 
Amen." 

At this period, plans for the arrangement of his studies 



30 



JOURNAL. 



frequently occur in his journal. Although he never 
practically attained his own ideal, it is evident that he 
derived very great benefit from the habit of mapping out 
beforehand the work which he desired to overtake, and 
noting afterwards the measure of his success or failure. 
Both in the ordinary studies of his course at college, and 
in reading for his own spiritual profit, his life was a con- 
stant and eager effort to forget the things that were behind, 
and to reach forward to the mark of a higher attainment 
which he had set up bn the horizon of the future. 

"Saturday, June 25th. — Impressed with the importance 
of observing methods (which I am sensible that I have 
hitherto too much neglected), I purpose to form, and, if 
health be granted to me, to follow out a course of theological 
reading. For some time I have been in the habit of reading 
a portion of Henry's Commentary every day. This I intend 
to continue. I ought to read some system of Divinity, — 
either Doolittle, D wight, Hill, or Boston. Bead also the 
following." Then follows a list of 87 works, 17 of which 
are biographical. 

" Wednesday, June 29th. — Bose to-day at four o'clock, and 
finished Baxter's Life. I laid it before the Lord, and im- 
plored his blessing on it. I intend to devote next Saturday 
to the correcting of it, previous to sending it up to the 
London Tract Society, in whose series of Christian bio- 
graphy I wish it to be inserted. If well, I may perhaps 
write a similar account of Boston, Halyburton, or some of 
the eminently pious ministers of the Kirk of Scotland. 
The pleasure and benefit resulting from the exercise are 
ample recompense for the trouble." 



A LITERARY ADVENTURE. 



31 



"Friday, July 8th, 1831. — Sent off Baxter to-day, with 
the following letter : — 

" ' Sir, — I take the liberty of addressing to you a life of 
Baxter, written with a view to insertion in the series of 
Christian Biography published by the London Tract 
Society. In writing it, I consulted all the authorities 
which I could meet with (Mr. Orme's Memoir excepted), 
but have used the words of Baxter himself, as contained 
in his Narrative of Ms Life and Times, when this could 
be done with propriety. I lay claim to no merit, except 
that of a strict adherence to the truth, and a studious 
wish to admit no expression which might give offence to 
any individual who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ in 
sincerity and truth. Whether or not I have succeeded 
belongs to you to judge. 

" * Should I be so happy as to have this Life accepted, 
I would have no objections to write a similar account of 
Boston, Doolittle, Halyburton, or some other eminent 
divine, in the course of a few months. 

" ' If the MSS. be not wanted, have the goodness to return 
them. — I am, Sir, with much esteem and respect, your 
mo. obedt. sert., 

1 1 James Hamilton. 

'"June 30, 1831. 
'"To the Secretary of the London Tract Society.' " 

Many readers who have been delighted and instructed 
by the products of his matured mind will be interested to 
observe how early and how eagerly his instincts led him 
'into authorship. His Memoir of Baxter was politely 
declined by the Secretary of the London Tract Society. 



32 



EELIGIOUS TEACT SOCIETY. 



Nothing daunted, the youthful biographer obtained an 
introduction to the conductor of a similar society on a 
smaller scale in Glasgow, who thankfully received from 
him and published the Life of Baxter in an abridged form. 
In subsequent issues, they sent out notices of the lives of 
Jonathan Edwards and Boston from the same juvenile, 
but already prolific pen. Not having access to these 
tracts, I cannot judge whether the author's lack of 
patronage, or the substantial defects of his earliest efforts, 
may have been the cause of his want of success with 
the great Metropolitan Society. Certain it is that at a 
later day biographical tracts by James Hamilton would 
not have gone a-begging from their door. At a later date, 
they discovered and acknowledged his worth in the de- 
partment of Christian Literature for the People. Twenty 
years afterwards, they solicited his help. It is interesting 
to mark the contrast ; and, accordingly, we place on record 
here the principal parts of the letter addressed by the 
Secretary of the London Tract Society to Mr. Hamilton. 

" I beg leave to enclose a communication respecting a 
new journal for the masses, which this Society contemplates 
establishing. I most respectfully, yet most earnestly, 
solicit the favour of at least an occasional contribution to 
the pages of this magazine. The press groans with the 
weekly issue of periodicals steeped in sensuality, imbued 
with a secular spirit, if not tinged with infidelity. It is 
surely time that an effort should be made to rescue this 
department of literature from the hands in which it has 
hitherto been too much left, and so consecrating it to the 
Eedeemer's service. To do this effectually we must have 



RELIGIOUS TEACT SOCIETY. 



33 



not only sound piety, but consecrated talent of the highest 
order that can be procured. 

"From the moment the Journal was projected my 
thoughts have turned to you, as the writer capable of 
gaining the ear of the masses, and winning the way to 
their hearts. 

" My connexion with this Society is of a comparatively 
recent character, and I learn with regret that from some 
cause imperfectly understood, you have not hitherto written 
anything for us. I trust, however, that this difficulty is 
not an insuperable one. The cause of the working man I 
must leave to plead with you. You would have, I hope, 
if our arrangements are successful, writers of eminence as 
your coadjutors. 

"You will pardon me if I am reluctant to contemplate 
a total refusal of my request. For years I have been a 
profited reader of your writings. To Life in Earnest, per- 
used and reperused, I personally owe deep obligation, and 
to recommend it to others I have always felt a great 
privilege." 

Let it be fairly acknowledged, however, that twenty 
years elapsed between the time when James Hamilton 
solicited the Society for employment, and the time when 
the Society solicited him for aid. It may be freely con- 
ceded that the biographer of Baxter had grown in power 
during the interval, and yet it is possible that if the 
earlier representatives of the institution had been more 
attentive and more acute, they might have seen in the 
volunteered contribution from Strathblane something 
worthy of their notice, both on account of what it achieved 

c 



34 



RENEWED ANTICIPATIONS 



and what its achievement by a youth promised for the 
future. 

As the season advanced, the impression that his time 
would be short gained ground. At this period he seems 
to have thought that secular studies were labour lost, 
inasmuch as he did not expect to live long enough to 
turn them to any account. " What time I can command 
I mean now to devote to the perusal of such books as are 
best fitted to prepare me for crossing the dark waters. 

" Tuesday, July 26th. — Last Saturday I was called to 
attend the funeral of my cousin, Jeanie Adam, at Paisley. 
Three months have not elapsed since in the same church- 
yard I saw the remains of my aunt committed to the 
grave. Of her happiness I dare not entertain a doubt, for 
I never saw, and never again may see, one whose affec- 
tions were more completely raised above all that is seen 
and temporal, and whose conversation was more in heaven. 
Jane Adam also died declaring her hopes of acceptance 
with God, rested on the finished work of Christ alone ; 
and who that ever put their trust in Him were ever put 
to shame ? Many of my relatives are now in glory, and 
my heart's desire and prayer for those who yet remain 
are that they may be saved. May we be followers of 
them who through faith and patience are now inheriting 
the promises. 

" Sabbath morning, July 31st. — A new ailment has been 
sent to bid me prepare to meet the Lord. But blessed be 
His name, I think I can say, c I know in whom I have 
believed.' Lord Jesus, into Thy hands I commit myself ; 
and while heart and flesh do faint and fail, be Thou the 



OF EAELY KEMOVAL. 



35 



strength of my heart and my portion for ever. The filthy 
rags of my own righteousness I entirely renounce, and 
desire to be clothed upon with Thy perfect and all- 
sufficient righteousness. Into Thy hands I commit my 
spirit. Heaven is too holy a place for one so vile, but 
oh, shut me not out of Thy presence, where alone there 
is fulness of joy ! 

" When I am taken away from them, Lord, comfort 
my dear parents. May they not sorrow as those who 
have no hope. Enrich them with Thy best blessing. Be 
the God and Father of all near and dear unto me. Bless 
my brothers and sisters. May they have a loving spirit 
towards each other, and may they be all united to Thyself. 
Prepare them for Thy heavenly kingdom, and may the 
soul of none of them be lost, but may we spend a happy 
eternity together, for Thy own Son's sake. Amen. 

" Many are the precious opportunities I have neglected 
and allowed to pass unimproved. My life has been un- 
profitable, may my death be more blessed than my 
life ! May it be the means of leading some who have 
hitherto been careless and unconcerned, to consideration 
and serious concern for the salvation of their precious 
souls ; then shall I not have lived in vain. 

' To Jesus, the ground of my hope, 
My soul is in haste to be gone ; 
Oh bear me, ye cherubims, up, 
And waft me away to his throne.' 

" Saturday, August 6th. — I have had some thoughts of 
writing a series of lives of the principal theological authors 
of the Scottish nation, to be sent to the Christian Instruc - 



36 



SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE 



tor. In it I would propose to insert memoirs of Boston, 
Binning, Rutherford, W. Guthrie, Durham, Craighead, 
Muir of Paisley, Wishart, Webster (James), etc. In doing 
so, I would acquire a knowledge of our ecclesiastical 
history which I might not otherwise attain, and might 
possibly have some little effect in drawing attention to 
their writings, which might be followed with most bene- 
ficial results. 

" Saturday, August 27th. — To-day was reading the 
account in Gillies of the awakening at the Kirk of Shotts. 
How stately w r ere God's goings in his sanctuary that day ! 
Awake, arm of the Lord, as in the days of old ! 
blessed Spirit ! breathe on these dry bones with which the 
valley of the visible Church has so long been filled, and 
they shall live. The fathers, where are they, and the 
prophets, do they live for ever ? Where now are the men 
who would renew the scenes of Cambuslang and the Kirk 
of Shotts ? Surely there are not a few to be found who 
would rejoice to see these days of the Son of Man re- 
newed. When will that communion solemnity arrive at 
Strathblane, when there shall be a general weeping and 
mourning for sin, and men crying out, ' that I knew 
where I might find him ! ' Such glorious seasons are 
coming. Ere long the wilderness and solitary place shall 
become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be 
counted for a forest. When I use these words they 
remind me of Mr. M'Donald of Urquhart, whom I heard 
preach from them on the evening of the Glasgow Fast, 
last April. I shall ever remember that holy man's ser- 
mon. Surely he preached with the Spirit, and no other 



AND LITERARY WORK. 



37 



preaching can do good. I do not know whether to set 
him or Mr. Sherrif or my father highest of the preachers 
I have heard. Surely they are all precious in the sight 
of God, whose approbation and blessing if they gain, what 
more need they mind V 

Towards the autumn, without any express notice of the 
fact, it appears from the tone of his journal that the 
expectation of an early removal gradually wore away. 
Believed from the restraint under which he had placed 
himself, he launches forth again with vigour into all the 
departments of useful knowledge that lay within his 
reach. At this time he had not completed his seven- 
teenth year. 

" Friday, September 2d, — For two days have "been en- 
gaged without ceasing in reading Sir H. Davy's Life, a 
book which, when I once begin, I do not know when or 
how to lea^e off. What an astonishing man he was ! One 
would think that nothing in the world escaped his notice 
but the God who made it. He appears to have gained 
everything but the thing he most desired, and that was 
happiness. For as far as I may judge from his Memoirs, 
he had none of that to spare ; and the reason is plain, 
because he sought it in meat and drink, in the theatre, the 
ball-room, and the billiard-table, in his medals, and his 
laboratory, instead of seeking it where alone it has ever 
yet been found — in God. My prayer to God would be, 
Lord, make me a Christian philosopher, or none at all. 
Withhold this world's learning from me if the price of it 
is to be my interest in the Saviour. 

" Get and read Dr. Erskine's Letters, and Meditations of 



38 



ILLNESS AND DEATH 



Hall of Dunglass, immediately, also Middleton's Biographia 
Evangelica." 

His sister Elizabeth, beautiful and winsome in person, 
of precocious intellect, and early developed spiritual life, 
was removed this season, at the age of thirteen years and 
five months. This was the first breach in the circle of 
the family ; and touching proofs appear from time to time 
through all their subsequent history that the treasure 
taken away was counted very precious, and that the blank 
stood long open refusing to be filled up. Her illness was 
protracted, and both its character and its duration tended 
at once to develop more fully the loveliness of the patient, 
and to make all the house cling more fondly to the spirit 
that was passing away. The case occurs so frequently that 
experienced observers have been inclined to set it down 
as a general law that consumption seems to single out as 
its victims the finest specimens of our kind. Whether it 
selects the refined, or refines after selecting them, it is 
certain that we have seen many very lovely sun-settings 
through that dark cloud which hangs so heavy and so con- 
stant on the horizon of humanity in our northern clime. 

Indications from all quarters show that in those years 
Elizabeth was the centre of attraction for the whole 
family, and in some measure also for a wider circle. She 
read French, and had made some progress in Greek. Her 
disposition was both sweet and sprightly. The sick-room 
became the favourite place of resort. In this case too 
the insidious malady exerted its proverbial power of de- 
ception. Expectations of her recovery were entertained 
till near the close ; and, strange to say, it was the bright- 



OF HIS SISTER ELIZABETH. 



39 



ness of her eye that quenched these hopes at last. An 
eminent physician called for consultation said on retiring, 
in reply to her mother's anxious inquiries, " I don't like 
that bright eye." Alas ! this was the symptom which had 
hitherto sustained the hope of the fond but unskilled 
mother. Such a radiance she thought betokens a longer 
life on earth; it rather betokened an early removal to 
heaven. The parents, warned by the physician's gentle 
but faithful hint, prepared themselves to resign the gift 
into the Giver's hand. The desire of their eyes was re- 
moved with a stroke, but the faith of their hearts remained 
firm, and they cherished the memory of Elizabeth as still 
a member of the family, though taken home before the 
rest. 

" Saturday, September 10th. — After an illness of more 
than a year and a half's duration, my dear sister seems 
now to be drawing near the end of all things earthly. It 
is cause of gratitude to the Father of mercies that she 
shows satisfactory evidence of a state of reconciliation to 
God, which at this moment affords me far greater comfort 
than her living to the utmost term of human existence 
destitute of the grace of God could have done. 

" Tuesday, September 13th. — Dear Elizabeth has been 
now for some hours in the enjoyment of immortality. She 
joined the general assembly and church of the first-born 
at a quarter before twelve this forenoon. 

" My prayers for her are now ended, and I would now 
thank the Lord for the kindness of His ways of dealing with 
her — for her easy dismission from the body — above all, for 
the work of grace which He hath carried on in her heart. 



40 



OPPORTUNITIES AND PLANS 



" For myself and my surviving relations, my prayer is 
that the Lord would be pleased to make us possessors of 
the faith and patience of those who now inherit the pro- 
mises, and then we shall also be made partakers of their 

joy" 

" Sabbath, October 2d. — Was chiefly occupied in reading 
The Pilgrim's Progress, with Scott's notes. Many have 
considered this book next in value to the Bible, and of 
any books I have yet read it is certainly the chief. The 
cause of its being so good is that it has so much of the 
Bible in it. Eeading it with self- application, I thought 
that I had a good hope through grace that I was travelling 
the pilgrim's road to the celestial city ; but my conscience 
bears me witness that in nothing do I equal Christian save 
in his deviations from the strait and narrow way ; and in 
these I am more than his equal. If the Lord would only 
bring me back to himself as often as I wander from his 
good ways, let Him do what seemeth Him good with me 
as far as other things are concerned." 

The entries in the journal during this season are frequent 
and full. They are all occupied with spiritual reflections, 
strangely mature considering the age of the writer, and 
interspersed with plans and resolutions for prosecuting his 
work. In order to economize space it is necessary to 
make selections from papers that are all of a similar char- 
acter. It was a season of great intellectual activity and 
of rapid spiritual progress. 

" Glasgow, 5th November 1831. — This morning I left my 
father's house in order to attend the session of college. 
In my present circumstances there is much which calls 



FOR WOKK AT COLLEGE. 41 

for my most lively gratitude. I have a house to myself, 
which is rendered somewhat like home by having my 
sister and the furniture to which I was used there. I 
hope to derive much pleasure from attending upon the 
Greek, and especially the logic class. Above all, I have 
the means of grace — good ministers, good books, and the 
Bible. With the health I enjoy, and by the blessing of 
the Lord, this may be a profitable winter both for my 
intellectual and spiritual improvement. Lord, I thank 
Thee for Thy goodness." 

" Sabbath, November 6th. — Eenewed my solemn engage- 
ments to be the Lord's — to fight against sin, the world, 
the flesh, and the devil — to be for the Lord, and for Him 
alone. May He grant that in all circumstances wherein 
I may be placed His glory may be the object of all my 
exertions, and His word and will the rule of all my actions. 

" Monday, November 7 th. — I am to attend the Greek and 
logic classes this winter. Though I cannot be certain 
that it will be at all times expedient or even practicable 
to follow them . out, I make the following suggestions for 
the employment of my time till the Christmas recess : — 

"Bise at a quarter to 7. Eead Henry's Commentary. 
Attend Greek and logic classes from half-past 7 to half- 
past 9. Breakfast. 10 to 11 write logic lectures. 11 to 
1 2 attend the logic class. 1 2 to 2 write letters ; prepare 
for Greek ; write notes of the logic lectures ; get books 
from the library, etc. 2 to 3 Greek class. 3 to 4 walk, 
dine. 4 to 6 Greek. 6 to 7 logic. 7 tea. Half-past 7 
to 9 logic. 9 worship. Half -past 9 to half-past 12 read 
two chapters of Greek Testament, and go to bed. 



42 



COMPETITION FOR THE PRIZE AT 



"Mem. — Bead Potter's Antiquities. Theatre of Greeks. 
Eollin's History. 

" Sabbath, November 27th. — A pain at one time in my 
breast and at another time in my side, made me apprehend 
that earth and the things of earth were to me near a close. 
These apprehensions the Lord has disappointed, and the 
day of my visitation is still lengthened out. may I 
improve it for the gracious end for which it has been given ! 

" I would wish to improve time better. For this purpose 
I would avoid all unnecessary or useless visiting, never go 
out to any party more than once in the week, and seldomer 
if I can. Never be more than seven hours at a time in 
bed during the winter, except when unwell, or deprived of 
my usual rest. Spend as short time as possible on my 
meals when by myself. Always carry about some book 
for occupying odd minutes. Attend to my most necessary 
studies first. Do things methodically. 

"There are a few things which I would like to do 
before my next birthday, viz. : — Finish my lives of Chris- 
tian authors for the Tract Society. "Write some life for 
the London Tract Society's series. Form a society for 
religious purposes among the sons of clergymen attending 
the College. Write a collection of hymns for young men. 

" Tuesday, December 6th. — For some days past have been 
very busy preparing for the Greek Prize Profession, and, 
if well, must be equally busy for two weeks longer. It is 
hard work. Two months of it would make me unfit for 
any exertion. And this is all for a single prize, which I 
am far from being sure of gaining, and which, though 
gained, can do me little good. How different from that 



BLACKSTONE EXAMINATION. 



43 



prize which is held out to the acceptance of all, and which 
will impart joy unmingled, honour unfading, and happiness 
eternal, on its possessor ! For this prize may I be con- 
tinually straining every nerve, and in due time, by grace 
from on high keeping me from fainting, I shall reap. 

"Thursday, Dec. 2 2d. — This was the day of the Greek 
Prize Profession. The competitors were, Georgius Forsythe, 
Jacobus Connal and Hamilton, Joannes Wardlaw, Jos. 
Crompton, and Eamsay Campbell. I professed the 
Odyssey and Iliad, 2 books of Herodotus, 5 of Xenophon, 
3 Tragedies of Sophocles, and 8 of Euripides." 

At the close of the session he obtained the first prize 
in this examination, besides the first in logic and the fifth 
in Greek. 

This is a very formidable ordeal through which all 
regular students of arts in the University are obliged to 
pass. Each student takes his seat successively, and alone, 
on an old arm-chair, which has for its bottom a smooth 
black stone of unknown antiquity and virtue. In the 
case of those who are satisfied with the minimum, an 
officer with a mace and a sand-glass standing by, calls 
out " ad ahum, Domine," when the subject has been five 
minutes under the operation, and he is accordingly set 
at liberty, like a sheep from the washing, to make way 
for the next. But when the "mighties" contend for 
the mastery, a whole day is set apart for the conflict, 
and the arena is crowded by anxious and interested 
spectators. 

The scene, as it occurred on a preceding year, has been 
photographed by Hamilton's pen in his usual style. In 



44 



EMINENT STUDENTS : 



reviewing the memoir of James Halley (3d Edition, 1850), 
he introduced the following description : — 

"When we arrived at Glasgow College, more than 
twenty years ago, the nom de guerre which we heard in 
its busy class-rooms most frequent and most formidable 
was Jacobus Halley. "We soon acquainted ourselves with 
the personal appearance of this literary Goliath. He was 
a tall youth, with large bones, and a light springy step. 
He had a high and cylindrical head, something like what 
we suppose Sir Walter Scott's must have been. His hair 
was light, inclining to red. He had evidently lost the 
sight of one eye, and often applied his forefinger to the 
lid, as if it were still in pain ; but through the survivor 
there streamed an animation sufficient for many ordinary 
eyes ; and through every pore of his pale and etiolated 
countenance there radiated a penetration and alertness 
which made him look as if he were seeing with all his 
face. When some hard question in prosody was per- 
forming the circuit of the silent benches, the concentra- 
tion on that corner of the class-room showed that the 
hopes of the Grceci rested with this fair-haired Porson ; 
and when he rose to read Homer or Aristophanes, the 
long paragraph which Sir Daniel allowed him to appro- 
priate, and the loud applause which greeted the brilliant 
translation, announced a favourite of the Professor, and a 
champion of the students. We still remember his Black- 
stone examination. It was a day in the dingy Glasgow 
December, and the great hall of the library, with its 
solemn folios, was made cheerful by a splendid fire ; and 
round -the awful chair, with its sand-glass suspended in 



SMITH, TAIT, HALLEY. 



45 



laurel, was congregated a huge ring of red- robed spectators, 
whom the heavy swing of the great college bell was con- 
stantly augmenting. Depositing their arms — vast piles 
of Greek books — the challengers took their places. We 
only recollect those who, in Hebrew phrase, would be 
called the ' three mighties.' And when, preceded by the 
macer, and followed by his learned colleagues, in his 
shining boots and rustling gown of Oxford silk, Professor 
Sandford took his place, it might be seen in the sparkle 
of his eye, and the proud elasticity of his graceful move- 
ments, that a great contest was coming off. They were 
the happy days before he tried to be a statesman, and when 
his favoured class enjoyed the full treasures of his accom- 
plished mind, and the fresh outpourings of his enthusiastic 
eloquence. The tournay commenced with one whose terse 
renderings, and clear categoric answers, bewrayed the 
mathematical precision which was soon to win the senior 
wranglership at Cambridge. 1 Then followed a scholar 
less dry, but equally concinnate, whose manly intellect 
and elegant erudition were destined to succeed Arnold 
afc Rugby, and impart new dignity to the Deanery which 
Milner once filled at Carlisle. 2 And so fine and unfaltering 
was the demonstration made by each, that in common 
years either, must have won the prize. But, 'ad alium, 
Domine' it still was Halley's turn. Tripping nimbly 
forward, and depositing on the table the learned heap 
with whose contents his cool assured look bespoke a con- 
fident acquaintance ; first prose, then poetry, he turned 

1 Archibald Smith, Esq. of Jordan Hill. 

2 Now Archbishop of Canterbury. 



46 



CONVIVIAL PAETIES. 



it all into English, so fluent and so happy ; and all hard 
questions of syntax and archaeology he answered with 
such an easy completeness that examiners and onlookers 
alike felt it the ne plus ultra of scholarship, and the 
rapture with which it was received left no doubt regarding 
the result. 

"This is the student whose fame still lingers within 
the halls of his Alma Mater, and of whom a loving friend 
has compiled the faithful memoir which suggested this 
notice/' 1 

About the New Year, the earnest student was drawn 
unwittingly into a scene of dissipation, which he neither 
enjoyed nor approved. It may not be amiss to submit 
here the letter to his sister, in which he describes his 
misfortune, to show that in the aristocratic circles of 
Glasgow at that time hospitality was sometimes more 
profuse than refined. The tendency in a wealthy com- 
mercial community is to exhibit in their entertainments 
a sublime indifference to pecuniary cost; and those among 
them who have adopted a different standard of measure- 
ment find it difficult to stem the tide : — 

"January 1832. 

" My deak Mary, — On Friday Jane and I went to Mr. 

's in the expectation of getting tea, as had been 

promised, but were a good deal surprised to find instead 
a ball ! I, who could not dance, was glad to be kept in 

countenance by so grave men as the Messrs. P and 

D. S . There were at least forty young people. 

They got two urns filled with negus set in the lobby, and 

1 English Presbyteriani Messenger, Feb. 1851. 



EXERCISES IN VACATION. 



47 



all were allowed to take as much as they chose ; one little 
girl took seven glasses, and was so ill that she had to go 
to bed. It was near twelve before we got home. Though 

the room was very hot we got no cold. I saw Mr. P 

next day, and he said it was after one before all was over." 

He expresses no opinion on the character of the enter- 
tainment. His only interest in the matter concerned 
the loss of an evening. Time was his treasure, and he 
mounted guard upon it with a miser's jealousy. 

The summer vacation of 1832 was spent at home in 
constant activity. His efforts seem to have been equally 
divided between the prosecution of his intellectual studies 
and the cultivation of his own spiritual life. The journals 
exhibit as usual an alternation of hard head-work and 
tender spiritual aspirations. The dispensation of the Lord's 
Supper in his father's congregation is " a well in the 
desert." The perusal of Baxter's writings makes him 
ashamed of his backwardness in the divine life : the 
Sabbath-school opens up to him an unlimited sphere of 
activity and enjoyment. 

"Sabbath, July 29th. — This day fortnight I was at 
Kippen Sacrament, and I bless the Lord for having 
brought me there, for surely His banner over me then was 
love. While seated at His table my heart was drawn out 
after Jesus, and melted at the contemplation of His suffer- 
ings. I felt an inexpressible delight in again surrendering 
myself to Him and His service, and was willing to do or 
be anything for His sake. I felt willing to be with Him 
even then — absent from the body, present with the Lord. 
To be in such a frame always — how happy ! But this 



48 PAISLEY RIOTS. 

treacherous heart will not be long one way, especially in 
the right way ; and without a constant administration of 
grace from on high, it is awful to think to what depths of 
wickedness it will descend. 

" I have much happiness in teaching the Sabbath -school. 
This would be greatly increased, no doubt, could I satisfy 
myself that a work of grace was really going on in the 
souls of any of the children. But the beginnings of grace 
are often imperceptible to outward observation." 

Towards the close of this year we find him again in 
Glasgow, attending the University for the third session. 
The following letter is addressed to his youngest sister, 
then a very little child : — 

"November 1832. 

" My dear J ane, — I send you this letter because it will 
contain nothing but what is level to your capacity, and 
which, at the same time, will be interesting to you, namely, 
the assurance that I am quite well, and am your most 
affectionate brother, James Hamilton. 

"P.S. — There have been sad riots in Paisley yesterday. 
I have seen no accounts, but have heard plenty. They 
were attacking the doctors, and breaking their windows. 
No life was lost. Paisley will never be my birthplace 
after this, unless it mend its ways. J. H." 

This was the season of the first outbreak of cholera in 
this country, and the riots to which he refers were certain 
ebullitions, partial and temporary, of the poor people, when 
a wild suspicion for the moment took possession of them 
that the doctors designedly propagated the disease. 



THE VOLUNTARY CONTROVERSY. 



40 



" Saturday, November 10th. — This lias been a week of 
constant occupation, whether to the purpose is a different 
consideration. If I live to the winter's close, I expect to 
have many weeks of unremitting toil. Thus it is that 
men labour for the meat which perisheth, and thus I 
labour for knowledge which I may speedily forget, or which, 
if remembered, I may never have opportunities of turning 
to account. But how few thus labour for the bread of 
life — how few spend their days and nights in seeking to 
know God and Jesus whom He hath sent, and whom to 
know is everlasting life ! 

" Much study is a weariness to the bodily frame, and its 
exhausting influences soon tell upon the mind. How 
cruel to themselves are those men of literature and science 
who make a working day of the Sabbath ! — who bitterly 
complain of the hardships of the way in which they travel, 
but refuse to avail themselves of the rest and refreshment 
the Sabbath periodically brings round — who are conscious 
that they are pilgrims in a desert, but refuse to turn aside 
to that oasis which meets them at the close of every six 
days' journey." 

TO HIS SISTER 

''December 5th, 1S32. 
" Dr. "Warcllaw was to have delivered a grand sermon 
against Establishments on Sabbath night, but studied so 
hard during the week that on Sabbath neither he nor the 
sermon was forthcoming. Just like some acquaintances 
of mine last winter (I do not include myself in the num- 
ber), who used to sit up so late preparing for the Greek 

D 



50 



THE VOLUNTARY CONTROVERSY. 



class, that they slept so long in the morning that the Greek 
class had to do without them. 

" Dr. Thomson's geographical ladies are on the increase. 

J. H." 

The brief postscript refers to a praiseworthy effort 
made by the late Dr. James Thomson, Professor of Mathe- 
matics in Glasgow, and father of Sir William Thomson, 
who now occupies and honours the Chair of Natural Philo- 
sophy in the same University, to extend the benefits of a 
higher education to the citizens generally, and especially 
to the female sex. He was the first of our academic men 
in Scotland, as far as we know, who made the attempt ; 
and it is only now that both in Edinburgh and Glasgow 
his idea has begun to be carried out in a systematic man- 
ner, and on a larger scale. 

The allusion in the body of the letter, though playfully 
expressed, as spoken to a child, points to what was at that 
period a great and keen ecclesiastical controversy in Scot- 
land. At that early period the question which has risen to 
the surface of practical politics in our own day, whether there 
should be an Endowed and Established Church, was de- 
bated with much earnestness and not a little acrimony. 
The champions on both sides were led at times to take up 
extreme positions ; and these excesses have impeded some- 
what the progress of that review which the great problem 
is undergoing now ; but in the main that old battle did 
much to prepare the way for a better era, which seems 
now to be dawning on the nation. In the allusion to 
the indisposition which prevented Dr. "VVardlaw from de- 
livering his promised lecture on behalf of a Voluntary 



KEDEEMING THE TIME. 



51 



Church, our student betrays somewhat of the class, pre- 
judice with which, at that period, the zealous members of 
the Establishment were tinged. In his circumstances he 
could not but adopt the views of those by whom he was 
immediately surrounded, especially as his father and the 
godly circle of his associates were all attached to the 
Established Church. However, notwithstanding the par- 
tial alienation which this controversy produced, young 
Hamilton cherished even then a very high respect for Dr. 
Wardlaw, and lived, as these pages in the proper place 
will prove, to pronounce the Church's common eulogy 
over his grave. 

We resume the journal. 

"Saturday, December 15th, 1832. — Since Thursday last 
week I have every evening had some engagement or other 
— to a lecture, to a meeting, to dinner, etc., each occupy- 
ing, I should say, more than two hours at an average, and, 
with one day's exception, I am similarly engaged for all 
next week. Now, all this appears to me quite wrong. I 
am here at great expense to my father, for the avowed 
purpose of prosecuting my studies at College, and adding 
to my previous information. And for this purpose all the 
time I have is short enough, after making deductions for 
those necessary interruptions occasioned by calls from 
friends, letter- writing, and a hundred other things. Now, if 
I choose to accept of every invitation, and at the same time 
am desirous to obtain a respectable standing in my classes, 
I must redeem the time thus squandered from what quar- 
ter I can get it — that is to say, from sleep ; in other words, 
from health, for a proper measure of sleep is as essential 



52 



REDEEMING THE TIME. 



to health as time is to study. I am therefore determined 
to take effectual measures for diminishing these encroach- 
ments on my leisure, should I be spared till after the ap- 
proaching holidays. Once going out, whether to breakfast, 
tea, or dinner, is sufficient for one week Since Monday 
ten full hours have been spent in College-meetings, visits, 
etc. Of these at least eight may be spared in all time 
coming. 

" Time is a talent, and, with all the rest, must be ac- 
counted for. If called on to account for the way in which 
each moment of my time has been employed to a fellow- 
mortal, how silly and contemptible would the reckoning 
appear ! What, then, must the ordinary employment of 
them appear when viewed in the light of eternity ? " 

" January 2, 1833. — During the past year I have read 
thirty-nine duodecimos, eighteen octavos, and one quarto 
— in all fifty-eight volumes. I also wrote an abridgment 
of Boston on Fasting, a translation of Theophrastus, an 
essay on the Ehetoric of Aristotle, another on the Eule of 
Faith, etc." 

A little later, 8th January, he writes to his father : — 
" This is the best time of the College — this and the next 
two months, — when we have a good steady supply of 
work, but not too much, and few interruptions." This 
short sentence, we think, exhibits the leau-ideal of a 
student's spirit. Here is a strong and healthful appetite. 
The "supply" he desires and rejoices in is "a supply of 
work." He is supremely happy in the prospect ; for, on 
the one hand, as the interruptions will be few, the quan- 
tity of work will be sufficiently large ; and, on the other 



SELF-SEARCHING. 



53 



hand, prudential considerations, springing from experi- 
ence regarding his health, are satisfied by the reflection 
that there will not he too much. 

The summer vacation of 1833 was spent at home in the 
usual way. Few memorials of that season remain, except 
the inevitable and formidable lists of boohs read, and 
hours daily occupied, with here and there a hearty plunge 
either into himself or into some injudicious visitor for 
the loss of half a day. Neither from letters nor journals 
can any continuous narrative be constructed : but as you 
follow the track of the student you meet evidences on 
every side of the same constant and zealous labour. Both 
his instincts and his adopted principles pressed him con- 
tinually forward. Idleness and procrastination were alien 
alike to his constitution and his convictions. His mind 
was a bow always bent ; to be unstrung was to be unhappy. 
The current of his life was always flowing, never stagnant, 
never even slow. 

Here and there, as in the next extract, we obtain 
glimpses of a conflict which Paul waged long ago between 
two natures, a worse and a better, an old and a new, in 
his own breast. In this matter, however, the only safe 
and healthy state is a state of active warfare, for victory 
will not be complete until the pilgrimage is done. 

"Thursday, June Qth, 1833. — On looking back I see a 
great many things to cause self-abasement. In everything 
I come short, but there are some particular deficiencies 
with which I feel myself especially chargeable. One of 
them is a want of candour, often attributing to the worst 
of two motives particular actions of certain individuals. 



54: 



SELF- SEARCHING. 



This is a very odious and sinful spirit, and I humbly pray 
that I may be delivered from it in time to come. Nearly 
allied to this is a censorious disposition, commenting on 
the faults of others, and in frequently noticing the failings 
even of the excellent of the earth. I waste much invalu- 
able time ; the consequence of which is that I do not 
make that progress in learning that I ought, do little good, 
and leave to the last things of high importance. By fre- 
quently lying so long in bed in the morning I leave 
myself little time for reading the Bible, and am hurried 
in devotion. Often listless and unengaged in family and 
public worship. I have again and again found myself 
more willing to pass by a wrong thing in another, as if I 
had not observed it, than incur the bad opinion or ill-will 
of man by standing up for the honour of God — as if the 
good opinion of man were better than the favour of God. 

Lord, lay not these sins to my charge. Against these 

1 would especially watch and strive in the time to come, 
by the aid of Divine grace." 

" Sabbath, August 11, 1833. — In reading Henry Martyn's 
Memoirs, the sacrifices he made that he might do good to 
souls could not fail to press upon me a painful and troub- 
ling sense of the little good that I have done, and the little 
labour which I have undergone in the cause of God. Oh 
for that spirit by which he was actuated, or rather, that 
that mind which was in Christ may be also in me ! Then 
will I overcome this fear of man, which has hitherto proved 
to me such a snare, and kept me silent and inactive when 
I should have been zealous for the Lord of Hosts. Then 
will no sacrifice — nothing in the way of performance so 



CLASS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



55 



difficult, or of endurance so painful — cause me for a moment 
to hesitate when the salvation of souls is at stake. I 
have this day been thinking that I may find it my duty 
to go and preach the gospel to the heathen. Before I can 
do so — and if I see a call of God to do so, I trust I shall — 
what self-denial will be needful ! What a missionary I 
would make at present — with a mind so filled with schemes 
about academic distinction, so vain and earthly in all its 
tendencies, so apt to be dismayed by every discouraging 
circumstance !" 

In the beginning of November, braced up in health 
as well as furnished in mind, the student betook himself 
once more to his philosophical studies in Glasgow. 

In the fourth and last year of their undergraduate 
course, students at the University of Glasgow attend what 
is called the Natural Philosophy class. Like most of the 
other classes, it meets twice a day ; the first hour is occu- 
pied with prelections by the Professor, and the second 
with a public examination of the students on subjects 
which have been previously explained. It is a course 
of applied mathematics, ranging over mechanics, optics, 
electricity, and other departments of physics. The class 
was at that time competently conducted by the late Mr. 
Meikleham. The examinations were oral and public ; 
each student answered in presence of all his peers. This 
system, combined with the practice of awarding prizes at 
the close of the session by the majority of votes, proved, 
under a competent master, eminently successful. It pro- 
duced in the pupils a healthful, well- sustained enthusiasm. 

As the students entered the class with various measures 



56 



MATHEMATICAL FEAT. 



of mathematical acquirements, the Professor at the com- 
mencement of the session ganged the capacity of each, and 
ever afterwards took care to accommodate the depth of 
his question to the depth of the scholar's attainments. 
Some were permitted, when their turn came round, to 
answer respectably a simple interrogatory regarding the 
more obvious physical laws, while another was permitted 
to perform a solo with chalk on a blackboard among 
the intricacies of algebraic formularies. On these occa- 
sions, human nature, instead of being dammed up, was 
permitted freely to flow, and the stream did yeoman 
service in driving round the educational machinery. When 
the Professor had chosen his man, and the chosen man, 
justifying his teacher's confidence, had tunnelled through 
his mountain, and emerged, chalk in hand and blush on 
countenance, on the other side, then the old man's eye 
glistened in liquid delight, and his formal " Silence, gen- 
tlemen," was manifestly not meant to check, far less to 
extinguish, the rapturous applause with which the roof was 
by this time ringing. In such scenes, and by such methods, 
a generous rivalry was stimulated, and ordinarily those 
men who strove hardest for the mastery in the class were 
sworn friends ever after on the wide stage of the world. 

A surviving fellow -student delights to tell how the Pro- 
fessor on one occasion called up Hamilton to demonstrate 
the proposition from Newton's Principia, Book i. sect. 3, 
that " if a body revolve in an ellipse, the force tending 
to the focus of the ellipse varies inversely as the square of 
the distance," and how he performed his task in such a 
manner as. to fill the face of the venerable but ruddy philo- 



DE. JOHN CUNNINGHAM. 



57 



soplier with beaming delight, and draw forth from the 
youthful audience a louder and more articulate satisfaction. 
Nor is the narrator an incompetent judge of prowess in 
these recondite matters. He is Dr. John Cunningham, a 
man of prodigious mathematical faculties and attainments, 
a Christian of the same primitive and unadorned type 
with the late Michael Faraday, and, like him, uniting the 
most retiring and modest simplicity of character with the 
highest scientific acquisitions. This man, now venerable 
in years and aspect, has devoted his life as a missionary 
to the Jews in London. A philosopher who might have 
coped with any of his contemporaries in plying the calculus 
which extorts from Nature her secrets, treads the dark 
narrow lanes, and climbs the dark narrow stairs, of the 
metropolis, seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 
There he labours, sowing good seed on beaten way-sides, 
contented to follow his Master's footsteps where he is not 
" seen of men." 1 John Cunningham cherished a fond 
friendship for his fellow- student while he lived, and sur- 
vives to lament his comparatively early removal. 

There is not much of permanent interest in the letters 
and journals of this session. A few brief extracts are sub- 
joined. 

1 Some years since I had occasion to meet a Wesleyan missionary from the 
Fiji Islands, on leave of absence in England for the benefit of his health, and 
was much interested in learning that he was the brother of Mr. Adams the 
astronomer, who, simultaneously with Leverrier, but independently, discovered 
the planet Neptune. How diverse on the surface, and yet how closely con- 
nected in the deep, were the positions and occupations of the two brothers ! 
One, in the central home of British science, measuring out the heavens, and 
determining where an unseen planet must be rolling ; the other on a small 
speck of earth standing out from the surface of the southern ocean, labouring 
to win some degraded savages to Christ. Sublime occupations both ! Par 
nobiie fratrum I 



58 



DR. HANNA. 



"December 13th, 1533. 

" My dear Mart,— I am glad that the book of travels 
gives satisfaction. By reading such books, taking care to 
follow the route of the traveller on a map, you may soon 
come to have a good knowledge of the geography of 
different countries, along with a great deal of information 
besides which it is desirable to possess. It is no waste of 
time to read good voyages and travels, the lives of great 
men, and works of history. I think now that if I could 
manage it I would read a multitude of such books, and 
regret having read so few when I had better opportunities. 
This winter I do not expect to have one hour for such 
purposes, nor can I well anticipate the time when I shall 
have sufficient leisure to acquire much of what I am horri- 
fied at the idea of wanting — general knowledge. I there- 
fore consider myself entitled to prescribe to you what I 
have myself failed in, in the same way that a condemned 
criminal may exhort others to take warning from his fate." 

''Sabbath, March 9, 1834. — I went to hear Dr. Cooke of 
Belfast with my dear friend Hanna this evening. He 
goes home to-morrow. The Lord watch between him and 
me when we are parted from one another ! 1 felt that I 
have been much the better for his conversation during 
the short intervals that we have been together during 
these few days. He has the right views of what a 
minister should do and be. Would that there were many 
such !" 

The friendship thus begun continued unbroken to the 
last, and Dr. Hanna survives to mourn with us the absence 
of a precious member from the ever lessening circle of 



HIS POLITICAL CHEED. 



59 



kindred spirits that gravitated towards each other by the 
force of common aspirations in those early days. 

" 16th April 1834. 

" My dear Father, — Friday is a holiday, but I must 
stay in town, comforting myself with the prospect that a 
fortnight will bring me home for altogether. I have got 
an addition to my library — a very beautiful copy of Magee 
on the Atonement. It is a present from the students, and 
from the inscription having something about ' zeal for the 
best interests of the University/ I suppose it is given for 
the same reason for which Dr. Fleming and others would 
say it should have been withheld. My conscience does 
not reproach me for the manner in which I have exercised 
my rights as a member of Glasgow University. If poli- 
tical principles be hereditary, I apprehend mine ought to 
be comprehended in this — 1. What is right is the true 
expediency ; 2. The real rights and interests of the many 
should be preferred to the alleged interests of the few. 
Whether this be Wliiggism, or whatever it be, I am not 
conscious of having done anything contrary to it in these 
matters. And though I was always aware, and am now 
more than ever, that this was not the way to secure the 
favour of Professors, I have the satisfaction of knowing 
that there is more honesty, kind-heartedness, and talent 
among the twenty -four names attached to this present 
than are to be found in the majority of the faculty." 

The preceding letter alludes to the lively contest be- 
tween the Liberal and Conservative parties, which termi- 
nated in the election of the late Lord Cockburn, one of the 
judges of the Court of Session, as Lord Eector of the 



60 



TESTIMONIAL FROM FELLOW-STUDENTS. 



College. It is quite refreshing to hear the clear, frank 
confession of a Liberal faith in the sphere of temporal 
politics, from the lips of this grave and studious youth. 
Nor is it merely an adherence to a party through heredi- 
tary prejudice. It is manifestly a matter of the judgment, 
and based upon what he considered the right and the true. 
So effectively had Hamilton led the Liberal phalanx in 
that campaign that the victors resolved to express and 
record their satisfaction by a united and formal presenta- 
tion. The inscription, with its list of appended names, is 
subjoined. The principles that were then dwelling in the 
breasts of generous youths have since that time told effec- 
tively in various places and in various spheres. 

There is scarcely any species of certificate on which we 
should be inclined to set a higher value than the spon- 
taneous and enthusiastic acclaim of his fellow-students. 

" College of Glasgow, 1834. 
" Presented by ' the Cockburn Committee ' to Mr. James Hamilton, 
the son of a most learned, upright, and pious father, in testimony of 
their high sense of his distinguished talents, profound erudition, inde- 
fatigable industry, stern integrity, and honest independent zeal for the 
best interests of the University. 

Robert Walter Stewart, M.A. William Park, M.A. 

John Craufurd, Med. Thomas Dymock, M.A. 

Alexander P. Stewart, do. Thomas Thomson, Arts. 

James Davidson, Arts. David Stewart, Arts. 

Colin Campbell, Jun. Joseph Compton, Arts. 

William H. Graham, Arts. George B. Moncrieff, do. 

David Thomson, do. William J. Unwin, B.A. 

W. Urquhart, do. John M. Douglas, Arts. 

H. W. Nesbitt, Med. Alexander P. Forbes, Arts. 

Adam Roxburgh, Theol. Michael Connal, do. 

John S. Wardlaw. George R. Kenedy, Theol. 

James Halley, A.B. Alexander Gardiner, A.M." 



CONFLICTS BETWEEN PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS. 61 

Conflicts on various subjects between the students and 
the Professors were of frequent occurrence in those days, 
and constituted interesting episodes in the otherwise dull 
routine of College life. They have long passed away, and 
it is not necessary to revive them. Suffice it to remark, 
generally, that liberal ideas on many subjects were invad- 
ing the monkish cloisters, and ordinarily the students 
caught the spirit of the age somewhat earlier than their 
seniors. Hence some smart skirmishes between the more 
advanced and more liberal-minded students on the one 
hand, and the dignified Conservative heads of the Senatus 
on the other — not on points of theology or philosophy, but 
on certain practical matters of administration. In short, 
some wavelets from the great storm that raged outside 
between those who demanded reform and those who re- 
sisted it, had leapt over the dark battlements of the ancient 
University, and raised an unwonted commotion in its 
hitherto still, if not stagnant, waters. 

On one occasion about this period the collision be- 
tween the progress of Liberal ideas among the students, 
and the Conservative tendencies of the Senatus, went 
so far as to threaten danger to the discipline of the Uni- 
versity. The students plied the Senatus with "memo- 
rials/' and the Senatus launched forth "minutes" against 
the students, until the duel assumed ominous propor- 
tions. Threats of expulsion were introduced, not very 
skilfully, into the minutes. These were repaid with 
interest by memorials, drawn up in a phraseology of con- 
ventional respectfulness which was not meant to conceal, 



62 



CHOICE OF PROFESSION. 



as one of the remonstrants characterized it, " an under- 
current of contempt." 

The commonplace observation, it may be frankly con- 
fessed, was true of those wars, — there were faults on both 
sides. The students were too bold and self-confident, but 
the Professors lacked the wisdom and generosity that 
would have directed, instead of merely repressing, the 
impetuosity of youth. 

Another summer vacation passes without change of 
methods, and it may therefore be left without a record. 
Next session he entered the classes of theology. He does 
not signalize this stage of his progress by any permanent 
notice in either letters or journals. The obvious reason 
of this reticence is, that the choice of his profession had 
been decidedly made long before. He did not need to 
consider, at the close of his undergraduate course, what 
direction should be given to his studies in the next stage 
of his progress. The choice of his sphere and work was 
made at a very tender age, and it was made with a com- 
plete intelligence. I have never known any one more 
constantly and thoroughly dedicated to the Lord's service, 
like Samuel, from his birth, in his childhood, and in his 
mature age. The vows of his father, uttered before his 
birth, were fondly accepted by himself as soon as his 
understanding opened. His father's judgment became his 
own; and at no subsequent period did he ever manifest 
any tendency either to reverse the decision he had formed, 
or to regret the step he had taken. His heart was all in 
it, and always in it. 

If, a few years after this date, and immediately before he 



PROFESSORS OF THEOLOGY. 



63 



was called to the ministry, he experienced some desires to 
devote himself to botany, and relative literature, there 
was still no dubiety as to the aim of his life. With his 
tastes and acquirements in natural science on the one 
side, and his physical constitution, feeble in those organs 
on which a preacher must mainly rely, on the other, it is 
not wonderful that he should have entertained the ques- 
tion as to the position in which his talents might be best 
laid out in the service of God ; but whatever amount of 
debate was admitted at any time, it was a debate as to 
means, and not as to end. He was bought with a price, 
and he was bent on glorifying the Lord that bought him. 
The only inquiry he made at any stage was, How and 
where may the talents intrusted to me be most profitably 
expended in my Master's cause ? 

In some of the theological classes of the University at 
that time a beneficial influence was exerted upon the 
students, but in others, if the young men did not educate 
themselves, they fared the worse. In some cases patron- 
age had filled a chair in accordance with some obscure 
private connexions, in flagrant defiance alike of the public 
opinion and the public good. A person endued with a 
perennial childishness, not very many degrees above abso- 
lute imbecility, might, if he gained the patron's favour, be 
placed in a chair in which he should doze and vegetate 
for half a century, to the unspeakable injury of two gene- 
rations. In those days there was neither security for a 
right appointment at first, nor provision for retirement 
when age and infirmity had done their work. The aged 
incumbent must live, although the students should be left 



64 



COMPENSATIONS. 



to take care of themselves. But in Providence compensa- 
tions come np in a wonderful manner, when and where 
they are most wanted. The particular form in which these 
preserving and healing powers of nature appeared in the 
College of Glasgow when James Hamilton studied theo- 
logy there, was a liberal, earnest, patriotic spirit, diffused 
in large measure among the students. If they shivered 
sometimes when condemned to sit out their hour on the 
"benches of the class-room, they kept themselves warm by 
combining together both for mental discipline and spiritual 
health. To the theological societies and the missionary 
meetings of those days the memory of many men now 
scattered over the world in the service of the gospel still 
fondly reverts, as to springs of water in a dry place. By 
means of earnest and able teachers in departments where 
such held office, or in spite of a teaching that was cold 
or incompetent where that obstacle unfortunately stood 
in the way, many of the students that passed through the 
Hall in line with Hamilton, have, through God's good 
hand upon them, reached and held important positions in 
the Christian Church. 

His younger brother having this year entered the Uni- 
versity, he writes to his sister : — 

" Nov. 5th, 1834. 

" My dear Mary, — . . . William is enjoying the Latin 
very much, — as much as I enjoy the chemistry. . . . 
Dr. M'Turk gave his first lecture yesterday, and, like my 
neighbours, I had pen and ink ready for taking notes, 
but as nothing notable occurred most of us saved our 
paper, but I did not see anybody sleeping. Dr. M'GiU's 



WILLIAM BURNS. 



65 



lectures make amends, and if his future lectures be 
equal to the two which I have heard, I shall never bear 
to hear any one speak disparagingly of them. William 
Burns, of Kilsyth, is in the Hall with me, so are a 
good many of last year's acquaintances, some strangers 
too." 

The allusion to William Burns, singled out from all 
the rest, and named as his class-fellow, in the light of 
subsequent events seems almost prophetic. It is alto- 
gether prophetic in the best sense ; for that deep congruity 
of spirit which drew these two together in their youth, 
continued in force, and in due time knit them into a pair, 
one at home and another abroad, in the mission work. 
United thus by one spirit in early life, in their death, as 
we shall find in the course of our narrative, they were not 
divided. 

" Glasgow, Nov. 28, 1834. 

" My deak Jane, — Yesterday, you know, was my birth- 
day, and I lay awake a long while, scarcely believing that 
I could be twenty years of age. And I have just been 
thinking that in these twenty years more time has been 
wasted than Milton took to compose Paradise Lost, or 
Newton to write the Principia. If you be a good arith- 
metician, you may perhaps get on to learn mathematics, 
and then you will be able, like Mrs. Somerville, to under- 
stand the Principia, which is more perhaps than other 
three ladies in England do. . . . 

" Edward Irving has been in town for more than a month, 
meeting with a few people in the Lyceum Booms every 
Sabbath. I believe he performs very little of the service 

E 



66 



EDWARD IRVING. 



himself, merely addressing the congregation in a few 
words before the close. His health is bad. It is sup- 
posed that his lungs are diseased. Three Sabbaths ago I 
met him riding in the High Street, being the first time 
that I have seen him since he used to play with me in 
the old manse of Strathblane. He has seen changes since 
that time, and has made the sad descent from the highest 
popularity to the deepest obscurity." 

A casual meeting for a moment between Edward Irving 
and James Hamilton, as two atoms meet in the air, then 
pass, and never meet again ! History will connect both 
with the National Scotch Church in London. How like, 
and yet how diverse ! In the one, piety, genius, power, 
all wrecked by a wayward spirit, and an enthusiasm 
which mightily impelled, without a sober judgment to 
direct; in the other, piety, genius, and a Christ-like 
meekness, which did more execution upon the enemies 
of God and man than any giant-champion who might 
make the battle-ground shake beneath his feet. When the 
engine slips off the rails, the skilfulness of its structure 
and the force of its fire avail it nothing. 

As a student, James Hamilton was as blithe and dis- 
cursive as a butterfly, but as busy and successful as a bee. 
His learning was spread wide, but it was not therefore 
spread thin. While he was engaged in the professional 
study of theology, he contrived to carry on always some 
under-plot without marring his main pursuit. Of his 
subsidiary studies, botany, natural history, and chemistry 
were the chief. Botany was a life-long recreation, but 



THE CHEMISTRY CLASS. 



67 



in this year, and during the currency of his theological 
course, he made an earnest and not unsuccessful inroad 
on the domain of chemistry. A class-room, in the form 
and of the dimensions of a small theatre, had been built 
beyond the walls of the College, to accommodate the 
numbers who flocked to the study of chemistry under the 
late eminent Professor Dr. Thomas Thomson. I remem- 
ber well a pilgrimage made by a few students from the 
Divinity Hall at the close of the session to the chemistry 
class-room, where our sectional pride was abundantly 
gratified by hearing Hamilton called to receive the first 
prize in a class of several hundreds engaged profes- 
sionally in the study of medicine. In great glee we 
marched along College Street to see Hamilton " beat the 
medicals." 

It is right, and may be useful to mention here, that 
while he was indebted for success in these sciences to his 
own intellectual aptitude and his persevering zeal, he was 
indebted, under Providence, for the opportunity to a 
moderate patrimony, which relieved him wholly from the 
necessity of working for his bread. While Hamilton was 
thus enabled to enrich his mind, and lay in precious 
stores for future use, James Halley, and other companions 
and contemporaries less gifted, were obliged to toil four 
or five hours every day grinding juniors, in order to pro- 
cure the means of attending the University themselves. 
Very little provision was made in those days for assisting 
students who might have shown themselves worthy of 
being assisted. Por the most part the bursaries that 
existed were at the disposal of patrons who admitted 



68 



BUESAEIES. — 1HE ILLNESS 



no influence except that of private partialities. Better 
days have come for Scottish students. A great number 
of bursaries have been instituted since that date, almost 
all open to public competition. Of late years not a few 
princely gifts have been bestowed or bequeathed by 
patriotic private citizens, for the purpose of encouraging 
learning in connexion with the Scotch Universities. Al- 
though few and feeble in comparison with the rich founda- 
tions of Oxford and Cambridge, some endowed scholarships 
are now in full operation, especially in Edinburgh, which 
enable young men of intellect and energy to prosecute 
their studies somewhat beyond the period of the ordinary 
curriculum, without the necessity of toiling all the time 
for daily bread. 

This session was suddenly and prematurely closed on 
the 16th of April, by the heaviest stroke that had ever 
fallen on his head — the death of his father. On the 5th, 
eleven days before his decease, he preached a public ser- 
mon in St. David's Church, Glasgow. It so happened 
that on that occasion I saw and heard the minister of 
Strathblane for the first and last time. I remember well 
both his figure and fervent manner as he preached. He 
gave me the impression of the Baptist preparing the way 
of the Lord, with none of the Baptist's sternness. I stood 
in awe before him, but it was the awe inspired by the 
tenderness of a messenger who besought us to be recon- 
ciled to God. From want of vigour in the chest, his voice 
was not well under control, — indeed the power of his 
preaching owed little to the instrument by which the 
message was articulated. It was not the measured 



AND DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 



69 



cadence of a cultivated orator that carried you away, it 
was the holy elevated earnestness of the man that made 
a listener's heart burn within him, in spite of defective 
vocal modulations. 

James spent some hours with his father that evening 
in Glasgow, in animated conversation on the themes which 
parent and child relished in common — the things that 
concerned the kingdom of Christ, and next morning saw 
him off by the stage to Strathblane. It was the last 
meeting of these two, who had been very lovely in their 
lives. He preached in his own church on the following 
Sabbath, was taken ill on Monday, and, after a very short 
illness, gently passed away. 

The great bereavement was simply and briefly announced 
in a letter to his uncle, the publisher in London, the first 
of a long series affectionately written by the nephew, and 
affectionately preserved by the uncle, which will afford us 
important aid at every stage of our narrative, even to its 
close. 

"Strathblane, April 17 th, 1835. 
" My dear Uncle, — On Monday my dear father com- 
plained that he felt unwell, and at tea-time was seized 
with a shivering fit, and persuaded to go to bed. It 
seemed at first to be merely a cold, and no danger was at 
all apprehended, — so much so that I was not sent for from 
tow T n ; but he had a worse night on Wednesday, and yes- 
terday morning my mother sent to town for Dr. Eainy. 
About mid- day yesterday it was evident that his strength 
was giving way, and when Dr. Rainy arrived at ten in the 
evening, he found him so low that he had no hope of his 



70 



THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER, AND 



recovery. His throat, which had been much inflamed, 
had now become greatly suppurated. He only lingered 
till midnight, and then his prepared spirit winged its 
flight to that heaven which had so long been its home. 
Oh, my dear uncle, you know how unsearchable are His 
ways, and this is one of them. Mamma was dreadfully 
agitated last night, but is more composed to-day. It was 
only this morning, when Dr. Eainy returned to town, that 
I heard that my father was so ill, and that he was gone. 
I am not able to give more particulars at present, but his 
mind was happy, happy. 

" Pray for us, and God bless you, my dear uncle. — 
Your affectionate nephew, James Hamilton." 

It will be convenient to introduce here an extract on 
the same subject from his journal, although it is dated at 
Easterhouse in the beginning of the following year : — 

" What have I been called to see and feel since I made 
my last entry in this journal ! Since then I have ex- 
perienced at least one dangerous illness, have lost a father 
such as few had to lose, and I, and those who are dearest 
to me, have gone from a home which we loved, and where 
we almost dreamed that we were to abide for ever, to 
sojourn in what we may truly call a stranger-land. Last 
winter was almost entirely given up to the acquisition of 
human knowledge, and the pursuits of literary distinction. 
There was every appearance that my wishes would be 
gratified. On Thursday, the 1 6th of April, having just 
completed an essay which I expected would gain a prize, 
and as the day was one of the most beautiful days that 



REFLECTIONS ON THAT EVENT. 



71 



ever lighted up the spring, I wandered four or five miles 
up the Clyde in search of plants. Little did I imagine, 
as I looked forward to my return home, which another 
fortnight would bring about, and laid schemes of employ- 
ment and recreation for the summer, and thought of the 
possible gratification which might be occasioned to those 
I most fondly loved by a successful termination of the 
winter's toils, — little did I imagine that at that very hour 
the hand of death was on the object of my warmest affec- 
tions, and that next day I should be called to a desolate 
home, to fm/1 my mother broken-hearted, my brothers 
and sisters ad sick of an alarming malady, and my father's 
lifeless rem ains. In a few days I myself was taken ill 
with sore throat also ; and as if to pour contempt on all 
my pride, when the 1st of May arrived, my meclal and 
my prize- books came in the evening, and found me in bed, 
scarcely begun to recover. After such an admonition I 
would be more brutish than any man if I did not regard 
this world's honours and pleasures as vanity. The warn- 
ing, I Trust, has not been altogether in vain. I now feel 
alarmed when mere secular studies are beginning to 
occupy the place which God claims for Himself. that 
He were more constantly and indisputably supreme in 
my affections ! Till His throne be established here, if He 
has purposes of mercy towards me, He will visit my back- 
slidings, and when His mercies fail to accomplish it, make 
Himself remembered by ' terrible things in righteousness.' 
Lord, help me to live above the world. Keep me from 
ever being so engrossed by its cares as to forget the one 
thing needful. 



72 FEEBLE HEALTH OF HIS MOTHER. 

" Here we have commenced, about two months ago, a 
Sabbath-school. I do not yet feel the same interest in 
these children as I did in those I left at Strathblane, but 
1 mnst remember that all souls are equally precious. I 
often wonder how I am so lethargic and lifeless amongst 
the scholars, when I always feel as if my time were short, 
and that I am soon to give in my account. I am not 
what I would like to be. I would like to make more 
exertions to promote the comfort and happiness of my 
beloved mother, whose heart is oppressed with a load of 
sorrow accessible only to the hand of the Great Physician, 
and to advance the spiritual improvement of the rest of 
the family. I would like to be more lively in prayer, 
more humble, less fretful, less vain-glorious. I would 
like to live nearer to God, and possess an assurance of my 
own acceptance. I would like to read the Bible more as 
the Word of the living God." 

"June SOtJi, 1835. 

" My dear Uncle, — When I look at the date of your 
last letter, I fear you may begin to feel uneasy at my long 
silence. The truth is, when I was purposing to write to 
you a fortnight ago, I was attacked by one of the most 
obstinate colds I ever recollect to have had, which has 
confined me to bed for nearly all that time, and which 
still renders writing a formidable employment. I am 
sorry that I am not yet able to give favourable accounts 
of mamma's health. For nearly a month she has not been 
out of bed, and so far from being better, I think she has 
for the last two days been weaker than ever. This long 
protracted debility is a cause of much anxiety to us all. 



BURDEN BORNE BY ELDEST SON. 



73 



The summer is hastening away without having produced 
any of those beneficial effects which we thought it only 
required time to accomplish. And in a month or two we 
must leave Strathblane, which I do not see how she can 
stand in her present infirm state." 

"When a minister in the country is called away by 
death, some peculiar features adhere to the bereavement. 
It is not only that the modest income ceases immediately, 
but the house, the birthplace and home of the children, 
must be abandoned at once. The first morning that they 
awake fatherless, they awake as strangers on the only 
spot they have ever known as their own. The widow, 
while her wounds are yet green, must remove with all her 
family, to seek elsewhere a place of abode. In this case 
the suffering was much mitigated by the possession of a 
little property, which, carefully husbanded, satisfied the 
simple wants of mother and children, and sufficed to carry 
forward the education of all three sons. 

Suddenly at this crisis our youthful student was thrown 
to the front, and obliged to cope directly with the various 
troubles of life — as the support of his widowed mother 
and the guide of his younger brothers and sisters. Loyally 
he accepted the task, lovingly and courageously he dis- 
charged it. Now appeared the value of the training he 
had received from his father, and the grace he had gotten 
from God. 



CHAPTEE II. 



FROM HIS FATHER'S DEATH TO THE COMMENCEMENT 
OF HIS MINISTRY. 

A journal is extant containing an exact record of his 
employments from day to day during the whole of the 
vacation that immediately succeeded his father's death. 
This book, however, is entirely silent regarding his pro- 
gress in the divine life. It takes no note either of his 
joys or his sorrows. The exercises of his spirit and the 
emotions of his heart during that trying season he has 
deliberately omitted to record. The memory of them has 
passed away with him. His great sorrow, however, did 
not impede or divert his course as a student ; it rather 
quickened his pace by supplying additional motives. From 
the 1st of May to the 29th of October 1835 the daily tale 
of work is briefly, coolly, sternly entered. The summer 
was one continuous effort, and the only relaxation seems 
to have been a frequent change of occupation. From 
Latin to English history, and from mathematics to Luther's 
Bible, he turned freely and frequently, but never from 
work to rest. If he is somewhat wearied by five hours of 
seventeenth century theology, eleven hundred lines of 
Virgil, in preparation for his degree, must do duty as a 
period of rest; and when his eyes grow dry over the 



LEAVING THE MANSE. 



Greek of Thucydides and Euripides, lie will bathe them 
in the large and luscious tomes of Gibbon's Decline and 
Fall. 

The horn of rising varies from five to seven, and the 
preparation of his father's Memoir occupies a portion of 
almost every day. On the 1st of AEay the Evring medal, 
for an account of the Wars of the League in France, with 
other honours, are sent home to the manse. The sight of 
trophies saddens the winner's heart, because the lips 
whose praise he coveted were cold and silent. 

In September the daily entries cease, and instead the 
f olio wins record stands : — " 11-19. — These nine davs were 
almost wholly lost by preparations for leaving Strathblane, 
and by arranging the library after reaching our new resi- 
dence. Left Strathblane on Wed the 16th. Lead 200 
pages of VThewelTs Astronomy and General Physics, and 
Pillans' Letters on Teaching, 140 pages; also 150 pages of 
Dods On the Incarnation, and Crabbe's Poems, vol. L 3 300 
pages." 

Thus, the departure of the minister's family from the 
manse is wrapped up in a bundle of figures and names. 
Not a word betrays any emotion. I suppose the reason 
why the emotions were not written is that they were too 
big. This eldest son of a widow gathered up the good? of 
the family, and led his mother and her younger children 
forth from the house of his childhood with a courage more 
than stoical, for it was the fruit of Christian faith. By 
maintaining a complete silence regarding the feelings of 
the moment, he has in effect cast a veil over his face 
while it was wet with weeping, that a grief so sacred 



76 



SETTLEMENT AT EASTEKHOUSE. 



might not be exposed to the public gaze. "What he 
desired to conceal we shall make no effort to uncover. 

The library, we incidentally learn, was the bulkiest part 
of the "flitting." The labour of arranging it interfered 
with study for several days. That same library, in which 
he had often revelled while yet a child at his father's 
knee, enriched by many additions of his own, stood as a 
stately monument in his house at Euston Square, the 
mine in which he quarried for his gold, and the object of 
interest to the casual visitor. 

On 9 th September the change of address is intimated 
to his uncle, still without a syllable on that removal from 
the home of his childhood, which must have been one of 
the saddest scenes of his life : — 

" In future be so good as address letters for us to the 
care of Messrs. Ogle and Son, Glasgow, for there is no 
post-office within three miles of Easterhouse. I shall be 
in town almost every day in winter. Besides Divinity, 
Hebrew, and Church History, I propose to attend the 
classes for Anatomy and Natural History. And as I in- 
tend to take my degree this year if I can get it, I shall 
have enough to do during the winter. That is what I 
like, for I become unhappy when inactive." 

In the first instance, the family found a comfortable 
residence at Easterhouse, a few miles eastward from the 
city of Glasgow. A month later he is able to give his 
uncle a more cheerful report : — 

" Easterhouse, Old Monkland, 
Nov. mh, 1835. 

" My deak Uncle, — I do not believe that I have written 



DAY-BOOK FOR STEAY THOUGHTS. 



77 



to you since we came to this place, and that is now two 
months ago. We are five miles from town, and William 
and I go every day to attend the classes there. We leave 
home in the Canal passage-boat after breakfast, and re- 
turn about five in the evening. Mamma's health is greatly 
improved We are within a mile of Baillieston Church, 
one of the new erections, the minister of which, Mr. Gray, 
is a good man, and an interesting preacher. I must say 
that in its altered circumstances I had much rather be 
here than at Strathblane." 

The last sentence refers to the settlement of a minister 
as his father's successor. He was vigorous, scholarly, and 
accomplished He failed not to show that sympathy and 
tenderness to the family of his predecessor which then 
character and their circumstances deserved, but it was all 
too evident to James that the tone of his father's teaching 
in the parish would in many respects be reversed. The 
incumbent did not long survive. 

In tracing the course of James Hamilton's life at this, 
as at every period, one is amazed at the quantity of evi- 
dence, scattered on every side, of a teeming activity that 
never knew repose, and an appetite for accjuirenient that 
seemed to grow by what it fed on. A book inaugurated 
17th July 1835, and filled to the brim, presents a most 
interesting and suggestive miscellany. On the fly-leaf it 
is entitled, ^avraatat, and in a regular introduction gives 
the following account of itself : — 

As much good timber is carried down the Mississippi 
and drifted into the Atlantic Ocean, where it is destroyed 



78 



CHRISTIAN UNITY. 



or lost, as would, if interrupted in its progress, build a 
navy. I have committed to writing few thoughts worth 
preserving, but by having no proper place to put them I 
have lost a multitude. For such stray thoughts Dr. 
Thomas Brown (vide Welsh's Life) kept a book which he 
called a chaos. It shall be a magazine in which to trea- 
sure up all those thoughts which are not required for 
present consumption, but which may all be needed in a 
future dearth — a lumber-room of unclaimed and unassorted 
ideas — a 7rav8o%6iov — for the temporary accommodation of 
all stragglers, great and small." 

The first entry in this day-book of floating ideas is 
entitled Christian Unity, and is inserted here entire : — 

" In heaven there will be no such thing as formal re- 
conciliations. "Without the intervention of a third party 
Paul and Barnabas would at once be friends — friends for 
eternity. No explanations, no making of apologies, no 
satisfaction. It is only a proof of the sad imperfection of 
the present state, that all those who are reconciled unto 
God through Christ do not necessarily continue steadfastly 
attached to one another. The moment a good man enters 
heaven he finds himself one of a band of brothers, though 
in the midst of that company towards which his heart is 
at once drawn out in the tenderest love may be those of 
whose presence he used to be shy, whose motives he was 
wont to suspect, and whose persons he held in dislike, 
From the moment that the first note of the heavenly music 
strikes the ear, all hearts must beat in unison." 

The next head is Selfishness. On the series goes till 
the book is crammed to its last fly-leaf with a congeries 



A CHURCH HISTOEY FOE THE USE OF SCHOOLS. 



79 



of thoughts and things as variegated as the contents of 
the earth, — as bright withal, and as beautiful. Comments 
on texts of Scripture alternate with extracts from scientific 
books, and physical facts commingle with moral specula- 
tions. His mind passed through the confused tumult of 
miscellaneous life as a magnet passes through a heap of 
sweepings from a factory, leaving everything that was 
mere dust behind, but emerging with all the filings of 
real steel that lay in the way adhering to its sides, to be 
stored for future use. The ultimate extent of his acquire- 
ments, with the high uses to which he applied them, 
constituted another example of the Scriptural maxim, 
" The hand of the diligent maketh rich." 

From the multifarious contents of this book we submit 
another specimen, showing that his mental activity was 
continually shaping itself into schemes of practical use- 
fulness : — 

" 6. History of the Church of Scotland. — I have been 
asked if there is no history of the Scottish Church fit for 
the use of schools. I know of none. Defoe's is perhaps 
the most suitable, but it was not written on purpose. 
Such a history should be concise, without having the 
appearance of an abridgment, should be written in an 
engaging style, and should be free from the prejudices 
and misrepresentations mixed up with most of the popu- 
lar histories. Such a work would be of great value. By 
making the youth of the present generation at an early 
period acquainted with the constitution and eventful his- 
tory, the services, and the piety of our National Church, 
their affections might be gained in its behalf, and their 



80 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSEKVATIONS. 



minds fortified against the prevailing efforts to prejudice 
the public against it. The usefulness of the undertaking 
should render it sufficiently dignified. If not anticipated 
in my design, and if health and opportunity be given, I 
may myself attempt it. J. H. 

"Aug. 7, 1835." 

Immense quantities of botanical observations are scat- 
tered over all his journals. Many pages are filled with 
notices of particular plants, and of the localities in which 
they were found. In this sense it may be said that flowers 
were freely interwoven with all his studies. But though 
botany everywhere bulks most largely, it did not, among 
the physical sciences, obtain a monopoly of his atten- 
tion. The journals of 1835 teem with facts in various 
departments, accompanied with appropriate philosophical 
speculations. Nothing escaped his notice, and nothing 
that attracted his notice was omitted from his notes. A 
whale was cast ashore in the Clyde, and its skeleton ex- 
hibited in Glasgow ; forthwith all its measurements go 
into his journal, with relative comments and queries. We 
learn the girth of the aorta, and the quantity in gallons of 
arterial blood that is drawn in by every contraction of the 
left ventricle. In the same or a subsequent exhibition is 
a living rhinoceros ; he also is dissected in the book as 
minutely as his dead marine confrere,. Facts are gathered 
and speculations hazarded regarding the distribution of 
plants over the earth, from one or more centres. The 
miners of the neighbourhood, with whom one has time 
enough to converse during the slow progress of the canal- 
boat to the city, supply him with some curious informa- 



t 

IN NATURAL HISTOEY. 81 

tion regarding the relative position of the various strata 
through which they penetrate in sinking their shafts. 
Forthwith he must endeavour to account for the facts by 
geological generalizations already made, or set the un- 
explained facts aside as materials of a new generalization. 

Interspersed with these notices in the domain of natu- 
ral history, occur miniature biographies of certain ragged 
urchins who stand on the roll of his Sabbath-school, with 
anticipations sometimes anxious, sometimes hopeful, re- 
garding their spiritual progress. On the whole, the tracks 
which the student has left of his course during this year 
constitute a precious and beautiful miscellany. This is 
not a prejudiced or one-sided intellect; it is peculiarly 
well balanced. This ship is remarkably well trimmed, 
and may be expected to cleave steadily, even through 
stormy seas, if her course should happen to lie in that 
direction. Science is neither divorced from, nor overlaid 
by, religion. These two, both living, grow in the same 
soil, and intertwine their branches, as usefully and as 
beautifully as the forest-trees and the vines on the hill 
slopes of Italy. In the material world and the Scriptures 
this scholar is equally at home. In both fields he ex- 
patiates with delight, simultaneously or alternately. On 
one page of his journal you may find confirmation by fact 
and experiment of Darwin's theory, that the ascent of the 
plumula in germinating seeds is stimulated by air, and 
the descent of the radicle by moisture, and on the next 
page you may read that " Eobert Black and David Brown- 
lee repeated their psalms without fault," while Andrew 
Burt and John Brownlee made one slip each. Thus, in 

F 



82 



EECOKD OF WORK. 



the true philosophic spirit, he observed his facts carefully, 
and recorded them exactly, in whatever domain they might 
he found. To write down whatever he saw or heard 
seems to have been with him both a passion and a habit. 

He had an eye for what is grand or beautiful in ex- 
ternal nature ; yet he fully and practically owned that the 
immortal young miners who were growing up all around, 
are more wonderful works of God, and more worthy of 
cultivation than the flowers that blossomed on the surface, 
or the minerals that lay in the crust of the earth. With- 
out conscious effort, and with singular precision, he gave 
everything its proper place. In his view, natural law and 
spiritual revival were parallel lines, which might run near 
each other in the same direction for ever without running 
fouL 

The account of his reading during this season is enough 
to make one giddy. " Eose at 4, rose at 5," varied by an 
occasional indulgence till 7 o'clock, make up the tale of 
time. The number of hours devoted to each department 
of the day's duty is daily chronicled : so many in the 
canal boat ; so many in attendance at classes ; so many in 
reading, or in conversation with visitors. Then comes a 
note of the pages that have been read, distinguishing the 
sizes of the several books. At the close of each month 
there is a summation of quantities, — June gives 2580, 
July 2250, and August 2110, pages. 

I suppose the work and the record of it act and react 
on each other alternately, as cause and effect. It may be 
true that if he had not noted so carefully for his own eye 
what he did, he would not have done so much ; but it 



INFLUENCE OF LARGE CITIES. 



83 



may also be true that if lie had not done so much work, 
he would scarcely have written out so clearly the evidence 
of his indolence. The merchant who keeps his ledgers all 
correct will probably make money ; but, on the other 
hand, it is precisely the money-making merchant that 
delights to enter his gains in the book. 

The Session 1835-6, while he resided at Easterhouse, 
was the last that he attended at the University of Glas- 
gow. With the exception of some months of 1837, devoted 
to the study of botany under Sir William Hooker, his 
relations with the western metropolis were closed in May 
1836. His long residence in Glasgow must have exercised 
a beneficial influence in moulding his character. The 
College, situated in the heart of a great mercantile city, 
cannot become isolated and wrap itself up in the folds of 
a mysterious antiquity. While an educational institute 
of the highest class exercises an elevating influence on 
the commercial community by which it is surrounded, 
that community reciprocally interfuses a wholesome air 
through the cloisters of the College, and checks its tendency 
towards mediaeval monasticism. If the founders of col- 
leges in England had happened to erect their structures 
over the coal and iron-stone beds, and Oxford had found 
itself in the centre of modern Birmingham, the Tractarian 
retrogression towards Eome would probably not have 
occurred. These fungous growths do not thrive under 
the tread of busy multitudes, and near the fires of a vast 
national industry. Modern life, if it had existed in great 
masses on the spot, would probably have overcome the 
attraction of ecclesiastic antiquity. When a student ob- 



84 



MEMOIR OF HIS FATHER. 



tains his collegiate education in immediate contact with 
a large, wealthy, and not illiberal community, there is a 
better chance that his common sense will be as well 
developed as his scholarship. 

Besides the immediate work of his classes, he was 
occupied during the winter with the Memoir of his father, 
and the inevitable, invariable Sabbath-school. 

"29th February 1836. 

" My dear Uncle, — How can we thank you for your 
invaluable present ? The gift and the giver, and every 
thing connected with it, make it unspeakably precious. 
I had little idea that such an engraving was to be pro- 
duced. It is a wonderful likeness, and has brought the 
tears into many an eye. You have done what will be a 
gratification to hundreds. The very sight of this will 
bring my dear father's discourses and his living character 
more vividly to mind than any words printed in a book. 
What a happy thing that that likeness was taken ! 

" I do not know whether I told you that we had estab- 
lished a Sabbath- school here about four months ago. It 
has prospered beyond expectation, and is attended by 
upwards of thirty boys and fifty girls. It has done more 
than any other thing to interest me in the place, and I 
cannot tell how happy I would be were I sure of its doing 
good. The children have a bad example in their parents, 
many of whom attend no church, and spend their Sab- 
oaths in the public-houses, with which the neighbour- 
hood abounds. Mr. Gray is a diligent minister, and 
spends much of his time in visiting his people." 



MEMOIR OF HIS FATHER. 



85 



At length, in May 1836, he succeeded in bringing out 
the Memoir of his father, in one volume, with some post- 
humous writings in another. Sustained by the counsel 
of his uncle, the courageous youth addressed himself to 
the task with a heroic devotion. The work bears marks 
of a maturity altogether beyond the editor's years. Never 
did son more reverentially, and ardently, embalm his 
father's memory, and never had worthy son a worthier 
father as the subject of his first great literary labour. 

In the memory of Scottish worthies who have passed 
the age of fifty, a halo of lovely holiness still hangs round 
the head of the late minister of Strathblane. It is well 
that those who knew and admired the virtues of the son, 
should be reminded that he owed much to his father. 
James Hamilton in his youth enjoyed, in very large 
measure, the advantages which the Scottish form of piety 
in the earlier portion of the century was fitted to confer, 
with few or none of the disadvantages which to some 
extent really adhere, and to a much larger extent are 
incorrectly attributed to it. In the home of his childhood 
there was, to the full extent, the Scriptural seriousness and 
devoutness, with none of the sourness which strangers 
often ascribe to the religion of the country. The light 
which the gospel shed on the manse of Strathblane was 
a gladsome light. There was strictness, indeed, in the 
service of God; but there was also the joyous freedom of 
dear children. The union, manifested by Dr. Hamilton 
in London, of old, deep, Scottish Presbyterian orthodoxy 
with the lovely pliability of a universal charity, was the 
legitimate result of early training and example. 



86 



PROSPECT OF SESSION IN EDINBURGH. 



" Easterhouse, June 30t7i, 1836. 

"My dear Uncle, — The kindness of your letter has 
done me great good, and made me feel what I will not try 
to express. I own that I was anxious about your opinion ; 
for if the Memoir were not in some degree adequate, I was 
sure you would be disappointed ; but you have more than 
relieved my anxieties ; and now, though the book were to 
dissatisfy all the world besides, it would comfort me to 
think that it had interested you. For the additional and 
unexpected act of kindness in regard to the engraving, 
accept my warmest thanks. I wish I could convey them. 

" I hope James will come to Edinburgh next winter. I 
intend, if all be well, to go thither myself, and it would 
make it perfectly dehghtful if James were there. I have 
laid in a considerable stock of divinity already, and what 
I want now is instructions how to lay it out to advantage. 
Good Dr. Macgill has given me a system, and I am going 
to Dr. Chalmers to get some life put into it ; and though 
James does not stand in the same need of the Doctor's 
inspiration, I engage that he shall find the winter spent 
at Edinburgh the most valuable, and possibly the most 
agreeable of his life. The Session there lasts from the 
beginning of November till the end of March. Do per- 
suade him to come." 

The summer passed without change of circumstances or 
variation of occupations. Again, as in former seasons, 
lists of his Sabbath scholars, with jottings of their lessons, 
alternate with Greek and Latin, with theology and philo- 
sophy, with scientific observations, and pedestrian feats. 



VACATION TOUR. 



87 



Many hills were climbed, and many valleys crossed, in 
search of plants to increase his acqnaintance with the 
Scottish flora. A solitary tour to Loch Katrine was per- 
formed in August. The record of observations is as usual 
complete. We insert the first page as a specimen of his 
method. 

" August 2, 1836. — Set out for a tour to the Trossachs. 
Took the boat to Falkirk, where I arrived at half-past three. 
"Walked, from that to Stirling, rather more than ten miles. 
Passed through Larbert, a village with a beautiful church. 
To the north of it, and in the parish of St. ISTinian's, is 
Torwood, famous for Donald CargilTs excommunication of 
the King, Duke of York, Lauderdale, etc. Still further is 
Plean, the residence of the late Colonel Simson, who has 
built and endowed on his estate an hospital for old seamen. 
At Beaton Mills saw the old cottage where J ames m. was 
murdered ; was shown parts of the upper and nether mill- 
stones, with the marks of the spindle- sockets which had 
been in use at the time. Then proceeded to the field of 
Bannockburn. The Bruce's flag-stone still remains. A 
weaver had built it into the wall of his house, but the 
laird very properly made him take down the wall and 
surrender the stone, which is now defended from further 
perils by a strong iron grating. The cows were feeding 
very peaceably in the morass where Edward's cavalry 
made such stumbling amongst Bruce's spikes and pitfalls. 
The room where James expired is a small place, with a 
roof too low to admit of your standing upright. The 
corner where he lay is still pointed out by the side of the 
fire." 



88 



INVITATION TO HIS COUSIN. 



In the same style, Stirling, Callander, and every place 
of note on the route, are delineated, socially, architecturally, 
archseologically, and most of all botanically. The whole 
comes out a rapid, fresh, beautiful conglomerate. Nothing 
is omitted, and no two things are counted too diverse in 
kind for lying next each other. As they came to hand, 
they are heaped up — old legend, modern aspect, ruined 
tower, physical observation, — are all thrown pell-mell on 
the top of each other, for the student is collecting materials 
at present ; he will classify and generalize by and by. 

" Easterhouse, Oct 2\st, 1836. 

" My dear Uncle, — Since I got your letter of August 
13 th, I have written to James, but it is more than time that 
I should write to you also. 

" We were glad to learn by a letter from Bogside, a few 
days ago, that it is likely James will be in Edinburgh this 
winter. We are all going in together, and have taken such 
a house as will hold us all for the winter. We would be 
very happy that James should occupy one bedroom that 
we can spare ; and perhaps he and I might make common 
cause of another room to study in. But if James prefers 
the independence of an Oxford bachelor, there are hun- 
dreds of lodgings at present to let. Tor our residence 
this winter, we have secured the ground floor and sunk 
flat of a house in Buccleuch Place, near the College ; but 
if Edinburgh should not prove too cold for us, it is likely 
that at next term we may take a house large enough to 
hold all our books, etc., and make it our permanent abode. 
Dr. Chalmers does not begin his lectures till Wednesclav 



EEMOVAL TO EDINEU11GH. 



89 



the 16th of next month. If James has Hill's Lectures on 
Divinity, and the Doctor's works on Natural Theology and 
the Evidences, he should bring them with him ; not for- 
getting Butler's Analogy. Might it not be worth while 
for James to attend Dr. Welsh's lectures on Church 
History ? I believe they are this Session to refer chiefly 
to the Church of Scotland. But Dr. Welsh is a philo- 
sopher and a man of taste, and worth attending, whatever 
be his subject. Tell James I am only waiting his letter 
to send my congratulations on honours which I am sure 
must be conferred one of these days, and am felicitating 
myself in the prospect of golden hours together." 

In November 1836, the family removed to Edinburgh, 
and he enjoyed the much coveted privilege of attending 
the prelections of Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Welsh on Theology 
and Church History. A journal of work then begins on 
20th November, and differs in nothing from its prede- 
cessors, except it may be in giving still more minute 
details of horns spent, books read, and work done. No 
history of his spiritual progress at this period is written ; 
at least none is extant. There is every reason to conclude 
that his faith continued strong, and his love fervent, but 
for the most part he has kept silence on these high matters, 
and written only the narrative of his external life. 

His effort to induce his cousin to study for one season 
in Edinburgh failed. That pleasure, though fondly anti- 
cipated, was never enjoyed. 

The summer came, and with it new opportunities of 
prosecuting his favourite studies. Although passionately 



90 



NOTES OF CONVERSATION 



attached to home, lie still leaves it for the botany that may 
be gathered, by the help of Sir William Hooker, in the 
west. Undistracted by the work of his own classes, which 
are conducted during the winter, he will this year throw 
himself with all his might into the summer course of 
botany given for the benefit of the medical students of the 
University of Glasgow. 

In the following notes we obtain some interesting 
glimpses of a remarkable man, the late Professor of 
Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, Dr. Thomas 
Thomson. Although in manner he was proverbially dis- 
tant and silent, he seems to have let himself out freely in 
conversation with his former pupil. 

"123 Nile Street, Glasgow, 
May 8th, 1837. 

" Came from Edinburgh to attend Sir William Hooker's 
lectures on Botany. On this side of Falkirk, Dr. Thomson 
came into the boat. Had more than an hour's conversation 
with him. I told him of Dr. Johnson's (Durham College) 
paper, which I heard read at the Edinburgh Eoyal Society, 
April 17th, in refutation of the Doctor's analysis of a 
Baryto-calcite-primeval. ' He wrote me a letter about it, 
but as he had only the tenth of a grain to work with, I 
paid it no attention. — Dr. Hardy's lectures on church 
history were the best course he ever attended. So popular 
was he that you had to secure your place — there was no 
getting in afterwards. — Dr. Watson's History of Philip of 
Spain is the best historical work ever written. There is 
none so well arranged. Dr. Watson was Professor of 
Logic, and he and Irving were the only professors that he 



WITH DR. THOMAS THOMSON. 



91 



ever heard swearing in the class.' He did everything to 
make himself singular, and attract notice. Dr. Thomson 
has seen him hop on one leg the whole length of the 
class-room in the midst of a lecture. 

"TTe had a debate on patronage. The Doctor believes 
it necessary to the union between Church and State. 
What is the use of building more churches when people 
won't come out to fill them ? The church I attend con- 
tains none but well-dressed and genteel-looking people 
(St. David's), and it ought to be a poor church. You will 
find the saying of Dean Swift to hold true : ' The top is 
all froth, and the bottom all dregs, for all the religion of 
the land is among the middle- classes, and it is well, for 
while they remain uncorrupted they may reform the higher 
and the lower/ 

" I have no doubt that geolo°v furnishes the best arsri- 
ment for a particular Providence, and that the most con- 
vincing proofs will by and by be those brought from 
geology. If there have been successive creations, there 
must be a particular providence, and I know no more 
conclusive argument for the Christian miracles, — for what 
are these creations but so many miracles." 

" May 10. 

" Called at the College laboratory. Dr. Thomson saying 
something about Iris own son Gideon going to India, I 
said it was not likely I would ever be there. 'You don't 
know where you may be yet. Sir Francis Burdett said 
that he could not tell but he might be an oyster some 
day, but he knew he could never be a Tory. Xow you 
see he is a Tory, but he is not an oyster yet.'" 



92 



BOTANICAL EXCURSION. 



TO HIS SISTER MARY. 

" Glasgow, 30th May 1837. 

" Took tea at Dr. Forbes's. Great deal of interesting con- 
versation, not excepting the mathematical part of it. . . . 

" 2Qth. — Two ladies who were calling sent kind regards, 
which I undertook to deliver, but neglected to ask their 
names. 

" 30th. — I have spent no such dehghtful day as this 
since I came to Glasgow, nor indeed for a long time past. 
Sir W. Hooker had fixed this morning for an excursion 
with his class to Bowling Bay. So at 7 we set sail in 
a most inauspicious rain, which prevented all, except about 
fourteen of the most zealous, from venturing. The rain 
soon went off, and troubled us no more. When we 
reached Bowling we found the worthy knight, who had 
sailed up from Kilmun, awaiting us on the quay. After 
some waving of hats and other preliminaries, he marched 
up at the head of his battalion to attack a breakfast mar- 
shalled in the inn. We soon put the whole of it to flight. 
Besides despatching kippered salmon and a couple of eggs, 
I myself did good service both on toast and rolls. Eising 
at five, and a sea-voyage, made me valorous. Then 
* Bun to the mountains, run, boys, run.' After surveying 
the Boebuck Glen we went a good way up the hills, and 
got, besides a profusion of the common plants, a few that 
are rare. With the names of these I need not entertain 
you. When the trip was finished, I crossed over to 
Erskine, accompanied by William and Joseph Hooker. 
But I must not tell how we ate grapes and cherries in 
Lord Blantyre's garden, and how Joseph Hooker, in climb- 



UNTOWARD ACCIDENTS. 



93 



ing a lofty fir to get at the eggs in a heron's nest, in Lord 
Blantyre's heronry, broke a branch, and fell down a great 
way, and tore his clothes, and had to go home in David 
Stewart's. Suffice it to say, that after dining at Erskine 
Manse, home we got by the last boat, and that, after 
transacting various thino-s I am now closing this letter 
hard upon twelve o'clock. My kindest regards to Halley. 
My love to you all. I have much reason to be thankful 
that I enjoy such health and opportunities for prosecuting 
a study that I love so well, and must take care not to give 
it the place of better things. In its own place it is good, 
but nothing is good in God's place. — I remain, my dear 
Mary, your affectionate brother, J. H." 

TO HIS BROTHER ANDREW. 

" Wednesday, May 21 1837. 
" I had a party to breakfast, that is, myself and three 
more — Axnot, Joe Hooker, and a Mr. Sinclair, an Edin- 
burgh, friend of William and me. Joe Hooker had col- 

o 

lected for me upwards of a dozen mosses when we were 
at Bowling, and, as I know nothing about these plants, he 
was kind enough to arrange and name them for me. I 
went out leaving them all displayed on the table, and, 
returning two hours afterwards, was dumfoimdered to find 
that my Highland hostess had been beautifying the table ; 
the labels with the names were all piled up in a little 
heap by themselves, and the mosses packed indiscrimi- 
nately into the little vasculuni. I tendered a very gentle 
remonstrance on this piece of ill-judged attention, the 
result of which is that plants have risen so highly in 



94 



BOTANY AND BOTANISTS. 



Mrs. Gilmonr's esteem, that if in sweeping the floor she 
chances on some useless leaf, it is carefully picked up and 
laid on the table, or some other place of safety. The 
afternoon and evening were not interrupted, and I be- 
stowed them on my own uses. 

" 8th. — Set out immediately after breakfast to search 
for some rare plants in Possil marsh, but after ploutering 
two hours in the bog, came home as wise as I went. So 
after dinner struck away up the Clyde as far as Daldowie, 
and fell in with my old acquaintance, Mr. Campbell. He 
was taking his evening promenade in a pair of those 
sandals without heels or toes — Scotice, bauchles — near a 
very pleasant hermitage below Daldowie House, his own 
residence, I presume. He mourns that yonder he cannot 
find anybody that cares about a plant, though in his 
younger days he knew old George Don. So I had some 
more stories of old George, and some of the old ones over 
again. ' Many 's the hungry belly that botany has given 
me. I remember travelling a whole day, from daybreak 
to the gloaming, with an umbrella over my head all the 
time, in search of the Erica cinerea (bell heather), with 
white flowers, but I got it at last, just when it was grow- 
ing dark/ It was growing dark soon after I parted with 
this botanist of last century, and I assure you it was very 
romantic to wander down the banks of Clyde, through 
Daldowie and Kenmuir woods, to see the wild flowers 
and hear the wild birds. But what was as cheerful a 
sight as any, at one place I had paused a while to gather 
a saxifrage, when I heard a frequent plashing in the 
water. At first I thought it was some mischievous boy 



SIR, WILLIAM HOOKER. 



95 



throwing stones, but soon found that the trouts were at 
supper, and the party was a large one. I never saw so 
many in one place. Further down, numbers of people 
were fishing, but the trouts seemed to pay no attention to 
them. Slept soundly, having walked altogether nearly 
eleven hours this day." 

TO HIS BROTHEE WILLIAM. 

" Glasgow, June 20th, 1837. 
" Tuesday 2 ] st. — To-day I dined with Sir William, and 
I doubt if I ever enjoyed a dinner party so much. I had 
a right to enjoy it, for I refused three other invitations for 
it. Besides his lady and his sons, there were Mr. Wales, 
a Newcastle botanist, a gentleman from India, Mr. Murray 
of the Garden, two English students, and myself. The 
conversation was all, as I wished and hoped, botanical, 
with a few episodes on Mr. Simeon of Cambridge, Mr. 
Montgomery, etc. Lady Hooker is a person of the most 
pleasing manners, and as fond of plants as the noble knight. 
He has just got a letter from Berbice, announcing the dis- 
covery of a water lily, with leaves six feet in diameter, 
and flowers a yard in circumference. He gave me to read 
a book which I expect to find very interesting, Lieber, 
a German botanist's travels in Palestine. They are in 
German, and will give me use for my dictionary, which is 
fortunately here. He was very kind in inviting me to 
come as often as I chose and make use of his books and 
specimens. You know the story of Mungo Park and the 
moss. When he came home he gave it to his brother-in- 
law, Mr. Dickson, and told him, { That is the moss that 



96 



SIR WILLIAM PROPOSES A 



saved my life in Africa.' Mr. Dickson gave it to Sir William, 
who keeps it among a multitude of other curiosities." 

The discovery in Berbice, mentioned in this note, refers 
to the Victoria regia, which was immediately introduced 
by Sir William into the Botanic Garden of Glasgow, and 
has been cultivated there with great success every year 
since that time. 

" 50 George Square, Sept. 27, 1837. 
" My dear Uncle, — This summer I attended the botani- 
cal class in Glasgow taught by Sir W. Hooker. I had the 
happiness to become acquainted with him, and he was 
very urgent that I should go to Syria, and spend a year in 
collecting its plants and studying its natural history, with 
a special view to the illustration of the Bible. He repre- 
sented that there was much to be done in this department, 
and that a person with zeal for botany and zoology, and a 
competent knowledge of the original Scriptures, might do 
great service, and get himself some credit by the investi- 
gation. These inducements were powerful, and when he 
added that if I would go he would allow his son, with 
whom I have been long intimate, to accompany me, I 
confess that it was with some reluctance that I last week 
decided on staying at home. The reasons which chiefly 
detained me were the distance, expense, and hazards of 
the enterprise, and, above all, the idea of being three or 
four years called away from the employment to which I 
have been so long looking forward. My mother would 
have been anxious all the time that I was away ; I might 
never have returned, and though I had, might have found 



BOTANICAL MISSION TO PALESTINE. 



97 



the family here in different circumstances from those in 
which I left them. The excursion to which I now look 
forward is one to London. I would like to come up at 
the time next summer when it will be most convenient for 
James to see me, and I intend sending him an epistle 
congratulatory to-day, in which I shall unfold my purpose." 

Considering the tastes and acquirements of our student, 
much interest attaches to the proposal of Sir William, as 
explained in the preceding letter. It might have* been, — 
it was, a turning-point in his life-course. Had he yielded, 
and undertaken an exploration of Palestine in the interests 
generally of natural science, and particularly of Scripture 
botany, his entrance upon the work of the ministry would 
have been postponed, and postponement for several years 
at that period of his life might have injuriously affected 
his fitness for it afterwards. The distinguished professor's 
suggestion, however, bore appropriate fruit at length. In 
his riper years Hamilton found scope for his inclinations, 
in contributing the botanical articles to Fairbairn's Bible 
Dictionary, lately published by the Messrs. Blackie of 
Glasgow. 

It may be interesting to many of our readers to learn 
that the youth whom his father proposed to send to Pales- 
tine with Mr. Hamilton at that time is Dr. Joseph Hooker, 
the eminent naturalist, who explored the Antarctic regions 
with Sir John Eoss, in the Erebus and Terror, who more 
lately accomplished a scientific tour in the Western Him- 
malayas, and who last year was President of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science. 

G 



98 



CONTROVERSIAL ACERBITY. 



By this time the controversy regarding the lawfulness 
and expediency of Established Churches had begun to 
exhibit in some places so much acrimony that, though he 
still maintained his side, he shrunk with aversion from 
the actual combat, 

"50 George Square, Oct. 7, 1837. 
" My dear Uncle, — Amongst all the societies that are 
organizing, would it not be worth while to try a Peace 
Society, of which all should be members who thought 
Christianity more important than the mode of its propaga- 
tion, and who would allow men to differ from them about the 
need of Establishments without treating them as enemies 
and Antichrists ? If all were of Mr. Wilkie's spirit, there 
would be no difference between Churchmen and Dissenters, 
and they would have something else to do than backbite 
and devour one another. Whilst they are displaying their 
zeal on platforms, and gathering the applause due to their 
heroic speeches, he is procuring to himself a better recom- 
pense in the closes and dens of the Grassmarket, and 
when he emerges to the light again, he has as kind a word 
for the theoretical Churchman who has been getting 
cheered for his church-extension harangues, as for the 
Voluntary champion who has been abusing the bloated 
ecclesiastics for allowing their flocks to perish whilst 
clothing themselves with the wool/' 

The next letter is addressed to his fellow-student Mr. 
Arnot, who was then acting as assistant to Mr. Bonar in 
the parish of Larbert, where the Carron Ironworks are 
situated, and where, consequently, a great proportion of 
the people are miners and ironfounders. 



THE WORK OF THE YEAR. 



99 



" 50 George Squabe, December 13th, 1837. 

" I DO not so greatly pity you with your swarthy popu- 
lation. George Whitfield, preaching to the colliers at 
Newcastle, marked the effect of his sermons by the white 
furrows in their black faces, and I never expect to have a 
more grateful and attentive auditory than the colliers' 
children at Easterhouse. Some evenings in the Grass- 
market make these look like golden days. Yet truth to 
tell, the Grassmarket has its attractions, and last Sabbath 
night, when Mr. Wilkie looked in, I was delighted with 
the answers of the bairns. 

" A fortnight ago I gave in to Dr. Welsh an essay on 
the importance of Church History, which, betwixt reading 
books and writing, engaged me ten or eleven weeks, and 
has left me very learned on the History of Creeds and 
Systems of Divinity. Do you think it will get the prize ? 
If I had heard Welsh's lectures three years sooner, I 
should have studied divinity after another fashion. This 
day he gave us in an hour a view of the evidences which 
would have been 4 expatiated on in a fortnight's lectureship ' 
had it entered any other noddle." 

Instead of extracts from the detailed report of studies 
during the year, we submit a brief summary which occurs 
at the close. 

" During 1837 I have read through forty- three volumes, 
and more or less of other books. Have read the Bible 
from Genesis to Joel. During the first three months 
attended classes three hours a day, and for the last six 
weeks two hours a day. For the last four months have 
Loffc 



100 



THE WORK OF THE YEAR. 



read Latin and French with my sisters, about an hour 
each day. Spent May, June, and July attending Sir W. 
Hooker's lectures on botany, during which time I tra- 
velled, chiefly on foot, upwards of 1000 miles in search of 
plants. 

" Besides letters, addresses, minutes of societies, etc., I 
have written a sermon, exegesis, and two critical exercises. 
Essays for societies — ' On the Development of the Moderate 
Party in the Church of Scotland,' ' Natural History the 
appropriate Eecreation of a Country Manse,' and ' Eecent 
Travellers in Syria;' and for Dr. Welsh's prize, 'The 
Importance of Church History in a Course of Theological 
Study/ 

"Every Sabbath evening when in Edinburgh, along 
with William, taught in the Grassmarket Sabbath-schooL" 

This was his last session at college. His zeal and 
energy seem to increase as his special opportunities are 
drawing to a close. The appetite grew by what it fed on. 
It is already evident that this student will not cease to 
study when he leaves the college. The " sacred thirst for 
more" is here a passion so strong that it will certainly 
last a lifetime. The usual congeries of accomplished 
work still crowds the pages of his day-book. The huge 
product is as inexorably demanded as the tale of bricks 
by Egyptian slave-drivers. In this case, however, him- 
self was sole driver and sole slave all in one. In still 
another aspect the process was all the world different 
from the usual results of slavery; for the driver was 
never angry, and the slave was never sad. There was 
hard driving, but no tears fell on the lesson-book in that 



DR. GREGORY. 



101 



school, where one gladsome buoyant spirit was both mas- 
ter and pupil. 

TO MR. ARNOT. 

"1st Feb. 1838. 

" I am happy to tell you that your kind wishes for a 
good New-year took effect, in so far that on the second 
day of the session I had the gratification of obtaining 
Dr. Welsh's Church History prize. . . . 

" I spent last night in a curious house — Mrs. Gregory's, 
the widow of the late Dr. Gregory, of famous classical 
and medical memory. His great practice left his family 
independent, and they live in some splendour. But what 
interested me most was the mss. of the great mathemati- 
cal Gregories, his ancestors. There were four of them, 
and one of them professor in Oxford. He was the friend 
of Newton, and for the first time I saw, in the author's 
handwriting, the first draught of problems that made the 
world wonder in 'The Optics.' To say nothing of fine 
paintings, a large library, the bones and coffin-nails of 
Eobert Bruce, and a conservatory (where there was only 
one plant in flower), I could have got a week's employ- 
ment in looking over their rarities, and a month's in 
hstening to Mrs. G.'s stories of all the literati of Scotland 
within the last half century. The reason of my being 
there was a visit to my friend and her nephew, John 
Mackenzie of Coul. 

" I am not ready to break your excellent rules anent 
early rising, or rather, early going to bed. But when I 
feel perdidi diem, it is hard to lose all the night too ; 
e.g., last Saturday I devoted fourteen hours (something 



102 



LITERARY ENGAGEMENTS 



more than a day, as days go at present) to societies, 
friends, etc., and could not have slept without a peace- 
offering to myself." 

A note in the day-book, under date 9th March, is 
interesting as being his first regular engagement with a 
publisher for other than periodical papers : — 

" Began, and for three hours wrote, a biographical pre- 
face to HaUs Contemplations, which I have been asked to 
prepare for a bookseller in town. It must be comprised 
in thirty-two octavo pages, according to a sample pro- 
duced. Is not this to be a bookseller's hack ? However, 
I did not ask the job, and greater men have not scorned 
the like employment." 

It need scarcely be remarked now, that it was only his 
own inexperience that suggested any scruple regarding 
this transaction. It was honourable to both parties, and 
useful to the community. It reflects credit on the sagacity 
of the Messrs. Nelson, the publishers to whom he refers, 
that they recognised in the somewha/fc soft-looking juvenile 
student, who had lately come to Edinburgh, some faculty 
for writing the biographies of ancient worthies, which 
might, if called out, be of eminent service both to its pos- 
sessor and its employer. The two parties to that com- 
paratively small transaction have since, in their separate 
hues, run parallel courses of honour and usefulness. Both 
the author and the publisher occupy a larger place in the 
public eye to-day. Afterwards, in the years 1845-47, the 
intercourse thus pleasantly begun was renewed and ex- 
tended. Mr. Hamilton contributed brief biographies of 



WITH MESSRS. NELSON. 



103 



John Bunyan and Matthew Henry, to accompany selec- 
tions of their works then in the course of publication by 
Mr. Nelson. To dig in these Puritan strata, and bring up 
gems of personal history for the delight and instruction of 
the present race of men, was James Hamilton's earliest 
love, Although his first effort in biography did not meet 
with encouragement, like a true hero he tried again, 
and tried with eminent success. It cost him no labour to 
bring himself into sympathy with the Christian worthies 
of a former age. Partly through parental training, partly 
through mental constitution, he found himself spon- 
taneously in sympathy with them, as soon as he came in 
contact with their works. His exertions in this depart- 
ment were a labour of love. At a later period of his life, as 
we shall see, he returned to it with increased fervour. His 
faculty was indeed in this respect unique. I do not know 
any other man who was equally at home with the quaint 
piety of the past, and the general culture of the present, 
generation. He possessed more faculty than any writer 
with whom I am acquainted, to bridge over the chasm 
which divides the seventeenth from the nineteenth cen- 
tury, and show substantial truth ever the same under 
every degree of circumstantial difference. 

Some additional extracts from journals and letters will 
stand as specimen and memorial of his occupations towards 
the close of his last session at college : — 

"February 10th. — Alex. Campbell's essay on the Mora- 
vians in the Missionary Society most affecting and solem- 
nizing. Seldom felt more the obligation to ask '. Am I 
willing to leave mother, and brothers, and sisters, and home 



104 



DR. M'CRIe's LECTURES. 



for the Gospel's sake ? ' This was warmly urged in the 
essay, and deeply felt by the auditory. Mr. Mitchell and 
I brought forward the motion anent establishing a periodi- 
cal, which was readily responded to. An interesting, and 
I hope eventful, meeting, which, as Leitch said, will, I hope, 
be remembered not only in future days but in other lands. 

" Some preachers use their text as ' a louping-on-stane/ 
If by help of it they can only get mounted, they do not 
care how far they go from it, or if ever they see it again. 

" February 22. — The Committees of the General Assem- 
bly's Schemes have agreed to publish a periodical, no doubt 
owing to the application from our College Society." 

"1st March 1838. 

" I used to be terrified at the postman's ring, for he used 
to bring nothing but letters of business, and it is very 
seldom that a letter of business is a letter of friendship. 
Matters have so far improved that, if my heart gives a 
jump now at his impetuous tintinabular onset, the first 
dunt is succeeded by a delectable fluttering 'twixt hope 
and anxiety, in which the influence of 'the charmer' 
(vide Tom Campbell) predominates. In short, then, I 
was in the lobby last night when the plenipotentiary of 
the post-office brought your letter, and an invitation for 
Willie to his namesake the Professor's. My being in the 
lobby in the present instance was preparatory to going 
out, which I think it necessary to state, lest you should 
suppose that I was coming in. But to proceed, I was 
going to hear a lecture on Church History by the Eev. 
Thos. M'Crie. Said lectures are usually crowded. I 



ATTACK OF SMALLPOX. 



105 



hesitated whether I should recreate myself with your 
epistle, and take my chance of standing to hear the 
lecture, when the wiser alternative prevailed. I planted 
myself in the corner of an empty pew, and read, and as 
I read, I laughed, and as I laughed, I looked up and 
saw some people looking and laughing at me. ISTath- 
less I read on till the kirk filled and the minister 
came into the pulpit and ended the sport. These lec- 
tures are most interesting, as I have stated at greater 
length elsewhere (provided Dr. Burns has put my notice 
into his Instructor for this month) ; and, you who have 
got Dr. M'Turk's prizes, and therefore know all about 
the Church of Scotland, could not give them of Larbert a 
greater treat than a course of such lectures. If a spark of 
national feeling linger, nothing can do more to provoke a 
godly emulation of our fathers. Did I ever unfold to you 
a scheme which I have cherished so long that it is a ques- 
tion whether it or I shall die first, viz., — to get up the 
History of the Church of Scotland something on the plan 
of Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, thereby in- 
tending them for young persons, imprimis ? For if that 
history could be learned in the nursery or at school, it 
might do something to forestall the present spirit of 
indifference or hostility towards our Kirk, and perhaps 
something more. 

"March 29th. — Bond fide the above was written, as it pro- 
fesses, a month ago. Since then I have been an invalid for 
three weeks, and the above is probably symptomatic. I have 
had an attack of smallpox, which confined me to bed for a 
fortnight, and has made me very weak, but done no other 



106 



LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS. 



damage, for if once I were strong I will be as beautiful 
as ever. 

" I do not know whether to join your preachers' strike 
against candidateship. Have you any feasible scheme to 
substitute ? For the blind-man's-buff system of taking a 
minister on recommendations will not answer. 

"2d March. — Wrote and read five hours on the Gardens 
of the Ancient Hebrews. 

" A few friends of the Missionary Society took tea with 
us. Eesolved to write to Dr. Duff to come and address 
the students ; also to cultivate more acquaintance with 
the Irish students in the hall, who have not met with the 
attention and kindness due to strangers. 

" 5th April. — Mr. Nelson, the publisher, paid me five 
pounds for my life of Hall, the first fruits of my literary 
labour." 

To tliis another short entry of a subsequent date should 
be subjoined as the natural complement. — " Sent one of 
my five pounds to be divided between John, Arthur, and 
Mary M'Gregor. Should I ever make further literary ear- 
nings, resolve to subject them to a similar percentage." 
It was thus that he clipt the wings of his riches to prevent 
them from flying away. 

" 5th May. — Says a worthy friend, ' There is but one 
good article in this Presbyterian, and it is yours.' ' I am 
sorry to hear it,' say I, ' for I have two articles in this num- 
ber.' He was kind, and I was rude, but unintentionally." 

Two papers in one number of the Presbyterian Review, 
during the session of college, with all his other avocations, 
indicate already the pen of a ready writer, as well as the 



VOYAGE TO LONDON. 



107 



habit of an eager student. "Nov was this all ; another 
useful periodical of that day profited by his alacrity and 
willingness, as appears from another jotting : — " Friends at 
breakfast. Got the Christian Instructor and the Presby- 
terian Review for May, with certain papers in them which 
I have not managed to read. All day revising my Life of 
Hall for a new edition." 

The chief event of this summer was his long promised 
and much desired visit to England. In the family of his 
uncle, the publisher, there was at once a strong attraction 
to London, and a means of turning his residence there to 
the best account. The journal of events is, as usual, 
lively, accurate, and full. We submit a few extracts to 
show the buoyant spirit of the youthful traveller, and the 
sharp look-out which he kept on men and things in the 
great metropolis. He read actual human life as he read 
books, in order to extract knowledge which might be 
stored for future use. 

" Thiorsday, May \1th, 1838, 7 P.M. — I take to my 
journal as we have now no more land to look at, but are 
far at sea, somewhere off the coast of Lincoln. It was after 
six last night when our steam- ship, the ' Victoria,' sailed 
from Leith roads, and since then she has been skipping 
along, with the help of a side wind, from nine to ten knots 
an hour. The meaning of said knots shall presently be 
explained, wind and weather permitting. The Bass was 
the most interesting object by far which met our view 
before it grew dark. Eising 400 feet, with precipices not 
only perpendicular, but overhanging, and looking down on 
two coasts at once, and the many islands of the Firth, from 



108 



VOYAGE TO LONDON. 



Inchkeith to May, with its merry men, and the nearer 
but singular rocks, Craigleith and the Lamb, and Fidra, a 
huge mass of trap through which the surge has formed a 
natural cavern permeable by the waves from side to side, 
as if intended for Neptune's triumphal arch ; it might form 
a fit habitation for some hermit who had just philanthropy 
enough to like a distant view of the haunts of men. But 
the Bass has seldom been a habitation from choice, except 
to its solan geese, who were all too busy sleeping to honour 
us with the accustomed salute. 

" When we had rounded Berwick Law, the breeze 
freshened, and, despite the exquisite spirits into which a 
comfortable cup of tea had put us, pale faces began to 
indicate the disquiet of their owners. Discretion was our 
valour, and at ten we turned into our beds. We had 
secured berths near the centre of motion, and therefore 
felt little of the ship's heaving. But I, being tallest, was 
promoted to the upmost shelf or berth, which, though near 
the centre of noise, was very noisy. (Hence the laws of 
sound and motion can't be identical. This for the philo- 
sophers.) There I heard in great perfection every heave- 
ho of the sailors as they shifted the sails each time that 
the wind varied, and that might be once an hour; the 
pilot's bell to announce the half hour, and a responsive 
bell from the forecastle, just to tell the pilot that they had 
heard his bell ; the tread of the man on the quarter-deck, 
and the pacing of squeamish passengers up and down, 
hoping that their sickness would walk off, besides the 
gurgle of the waves, the splash of the paddle-wheels, the 
grinding of the engines, the roar of the furnaces, and the 



VOYAGE TO LONDON. 



109 



creaking, and warping, and straining of timbers. All this 
without a storm was noise enough to keep me long awake. 
But it was still dark when I fell asleep, nor did my slumber 
break till daylight had extinguished the floating light of 
our cabin-lamp. At seven I lowered myself from my 
perch, put on my coat, which, with my boots, was all that 
I had taken off, and stepped on deck. The sun was smiling 
on the face of the ocean, which was scarcely ruffled ; it was 
only dimpled, as if smiling back again. At breakfast no 
lady was forthcoming, and some did not leave the roost all 
day. Yet we seldom had any motion beyond the solemn 
heave of the vessel under the propulsion of 260 horse-power, 
and the fretful jarring of the over-strained timbers. . . . 

"Bead the second volume of Basil Hall's Fragments 
of Voyages and Travels, — amusing, egotistical, and exag- 
gerated, full of nautical slang." 

Here is the ruling passion strong in the sickly tossings 
of the hissing steamer, as in the solitary lodging of the 
student ; he must be devouring a book, and must also jot 
down for his own use a note of its contents, or an opinion 
of its worth. 

Passing over many notices of the city and its citizens, 
take one which points to his own favourite pursuits. From 
this time forth, the British Museum became one of his 
favourite haunts. It was a mine of gold opened at his 
door. 

" Thundered along in an omnibus to the British Museum, 
and found that we had selected the only day on which it 
was impossible to see it. With Adam White, took a run 
to the Linnean Society's Eooms in Soho Square, the former 



110 



INSTITUTIONS IN LONDON. 



residence of Sir Joseph. Banks. Saw the three little green- 
painted presses which contain the herbarium of the great 
Linnaeus, sacredly kept as he had left them, and a number 
of similar presses filled with the collections of Sir James 
E. Smith, and many others. Then to the Zoological 
Society's Eooms, whose museum we explored. It contains 
many unique specimens. And lastly, to the Exhibition 
of the Eoyal Academy. This year's is the seventieth. The 
painting which attracted the greatest attention was 
Wilkie's, ' The Queen presiding at the Council on her Ac- 
cession to the Throne/ This was executed for the Queen 
at her own command. . . . 

"Turner's landscapes, gilt over with sunshine, have a 
peculiar effect, which is almost natural in the banishment 
of Ovid from Eome. It is evening, and the scene floats in 
such radiance as the prodigal sky of Italy pours into its 
Tiber. The landscape is set off with all those attractions 
which could make a last look the most agonizing to a poet 
who, like Ovid, had sensibility without heroism, and could 
only sing with Eome in his eye, or in his memory. Land- 
seer's dogs are the pink of canine elegance and good 
breeding, most gentleman-looking dogs." 

This visit was his first sight of the great world. It is 
here he begins to find the use of his classic stores. His 
acquisitions and tastes will put more meaning into one of 
Turner's landscapes, and more meaning into many other 
objects that must pass before the observer in the moving 
panorama of miscellaneous life. 

A visit to Oxford is briefly sketched in a letter to his 
sister. 



VISIT TO OXFOKD. 



Ill 



"St. John's College, Oxon, 28th May 1838. 
" My deae Maby, — James and I came here on Friday. 
We left London early, so as to give ourselves time to visit 
Windsor. The Queen is at Buckingham House ; so we 
had the range of the state-rooms unmolested. They are 
splendid. The hall where the Knights of the Garter dine 
with her Majesty on great occasions we particularly 
admired. It is very long, and very lofty. The ceiling 
blazoned with the arms of many hundred nobles who have 
won the blue ribbon in their day ; and the walls hung 
round with suits of armour of every age and fashion. In 
an ante-room are many busts and pictures ; that of Nelson 
has for a pedestal the lower part of the ' Victory's ' fore- 
mast perforated by a cannon ball. The royal chapel is a 
solemn place, surrounded with the monuments of kings and 
paved with their tomb-stones. The marble group repre- 
senting the death of the Princess Charlotte is the most 
expressive thing I have seen in marble. A palace is to 
me a sadder spectacle than a graveyard ; for the study of 
splendour contrasts mournfully with the tokens of human 
weakness and evanescence. Passed through Eton, and had 
the prospect which inspired Gray's famous ode, but we did 
not feel poetical. 

" Slough, where Sir John Herschel has just taken up 
Iris residence on his return from the Cape, and where his 
father's enormous telescope lies in ruins. Oxford at night. 
Took lodgings in the town ; but take our meals in college. 
Wonderful old place. Yesterday heard four sermons, and 
attended five churches or chapels. Heard the Bampton 
Lecture, and James's tutor asked us to dine with the 



112 



EMINENT PREACHERS. 



fellows of this college, where I sat next to the august 
lecturer ; chatted and drank wine with him, and thought 
of him and some other of the big-wigs as the old woman 
did of the judges. I have not yet penetrated the entire 
mystery of caps, gowns, hoods, and surplices, of which 
there are at least twenty combinations. But this morning 
breakfasted at the rooms of a student with a velvet cap, 
which interpreted means a Gentleman Commoner, or one 
who spends £200 a year additional for a higher seat at 
chapel ; and a youth came in and took a cup of coffee, with 
a gold tassel on his top, which proved him to be my Lord 
Brooke, eldest son of the Earl of Warwick. A college life 
may be very pleasant, — comfortable rooms, heaps of ser- 
vants, libraries, lectures, silver-plate (for here every trencher 
and jug are solid silver) ; but I do not like the un- 
collegiate distinction of velvet and gold tassels. Every 
one, however, looks like a gentleman, and most are really 
such. 

" In London I heard Melvill, but was much more in- 
terested with Mr. Newman here. He is suspected of 
Popery by some, but is a High Churchman only. I have 
not for long heard a sermon so affecting or so impressively 
spoken. He is doing much good and some evil. Love to 
all, from yourself upwards and downwards, — Your very 
affectionate brother, James Hamilton." 

It is interesting to observe the estimate formed at that 
time of Mr. Newman by a liberal and catholic, but 
thoroughly Protestant, listener. He generously appreciates 
the good, and refuses to believe in all the evil. Alas ! the 



REV. THOMAS BINNEY. 



113 



canker had by that time eaten deeper into the vitals of the 
Anglican Church than good men were willing to believe 
possible. Since that time the leaven of ritualism has 
spread so widely through the national Establishment, that, 
though faithful men within it still hold on in hope, others 
outside begin to despair of reformation except through a 
dissolution of the body, and a reconstruction of its elements. 

" June 8th. — Afternoon with uncle to Hampstead ; 
through Lincoln's Inn and St. Pancras' Church. Beautiful 
Grecian structure, with a tower copied from the Temple 
of the Winds, but unpleasantly like a heathen temple, 
with its caryatides, etc.; cost £80,000; holds 2500. Called 
at West End. Dined at Mr. Thorpe's. 

"June 9 th. — British Museum, to make extracts from 
some books. 

" Sabbath, June 10th. — Mr. Binney's, Weigh-House. 
- Signs of the Times/ Bemarkable man. The finest fore- 
head extant, perhaps. Forcible language. Factory chil- 
dren ' defrauded of their childhood.' Fine people sighing 
over the negro's oppression, ' whilst they flaunted about 
in gay clothing, wet with the tears and stained with the 
blood of their infant fellow-countrymen.' ' Valleys which 
once awoke only to the voice of the bird, have had their 
echoes disturbed and frightened by the rumble of machi- 
nery.' A crowded audience of the most respectable and in- 
telligent sang the closing hymn with an enthusiasm which 
promised hearty support in any measure to which the 
orator might urge them. Happily this sermon was an 
exception from his ordinary train of subjects. Considers 
Chalmers's visit to London auspicious for the enemies 

H 



114 



ME. THOMAS HAMILTON. 



of Establishments. A lecturer a novelty ; an appeal to 
public reason a descent from the haughty eminence once 
occupied by Churchmen. Defended on grounds which 
High Church of England men will have cause to re- 
pent." 

This is thirty years since, and, through God's good hand 
upon him, Mr. Binney's brow is still erect, and the brain 
it holds is still capable of taking a share in any good cause 
The concluding note regarding the defence of Church estab- 
lishments, when read in the light of the present day, is a 
testimony to his great sagacity. 

" June lhth. — Along with Uncle Thomas got away by 
the three o'clock coach for Brighton. Travelled ten miles 
an hour regularly, and stopped a quarter for tea. Uncle 
always makes a point of taking every meal when travel- 
ling, whether inclined or not, for the encouragement of 
people who, at great risk and inconvenience, keep their 
houses open for the public accommodation. And on the 
same principle, instead of calling surlily to the waiters, 
and abusing everything brought to table, he praises what 
he can. To-night he praised the butter, and it deserved 
it. This certainly is in a better spirit, and has a better 
effect on people, than what you generally hear at the 
common table of a hotel. ' Waiter, have these fish stood 
there since I was last this way ?' ' Have you boiled these 
eggs long enough to kill the chicks inside of them ?'" 

The eminent bibliopole of the Eow carried about with 
him a true and noble heart in mail-coaches and all sorts 
of conveyances. This practical protest in favour of the 
injured innkeepers is an incidental mark of a noble nature. 



BRITISH MUSEUM. 



115 



The late Archbishop Whately, while yet a youth, made a 
vigorous and successful stand on the side of a deserving 
host, on the way between Oxford and his home — an exploit 
which he recalled with pleasure in later years. 

"2d July. — British Museum. Got from Mr. Children 
two specimens of Ophrys apifera in pots. Linnasan Society. 
Looked over botanical books in the library. Sir James 
Smith's copy of light-foot's Flora, 1781, Creech, Edin. 
The copy of Hudson's Flora, by the help of which he 
learned botany ; full of marginal notes. Linnaeus's copies 
of his own publications, done over with annotations. Mr. 
Don told me that his father's letters, etc., had been given 
to Mr. D — in Edinburgh, for the purpose of writing a life, 
many years ago. Eooms of the Eoyal Society. 

" 3d July. — All forenoon in reading-room of British 
Museum. Evening, went to Surrey chapel. Mr. Sher- 
man did not preach, but instead of him a young Irishman, 
in a black stock, with a style as florid as his complexion." 

In its learned societies and libraries and museums, Lon- 
don has immense attractions for this young man. The 
taste he has obtained during this visit has whetted his 
appetite. The memory of these botanical and antiquarian 
treasures will remain, and possibly enter, acknowledged 
by himself or unacknowledged, as a make-weight into one 
scale at a subsequent date when he is invited to take up 
his residence in the metropolis. 

At Galleywood, his cousin's curacy in Essex : — 

"5 th July. — The cottages of the peasantry are, next to 
the ancient parish churches, the great ornament of this 
part of the country. They are built with that picturesque 



116 ENGLISH COTTAGES — DR. CUMMING. 



disregard of system, either as to position or architecture, 
which produces a pleasing effect beyond the reach of any 
system, though it may fail to give the greatest possible 
accommodation of which the materials are capable. Then 
there are the flower-plots before each door- step, and the 
rose-trees festooning with their fragrant branches every 
window and doorway, with vines or some such creepers 
on the gable-walls. Whoever has seen these cottages, and 
gets a parish in Scotland put under his care, should never 
rest till he has put this badge and instrument of morality 
upon the homes of all its inhabitants. For, upon the 
principles of Whitfield, neatness and a love of order are 
the signs of a good character, and on the principles of the 
Manse Garden, they lead to it. Mr. Paterson, 1 by the 
way, has noticed the true cause of that romantic and 
sylvan appearance which English scenery usually presents, 
making every parish look like a nobleman's park. The 
English plant less than the Scotch. There are few woods 
in England, but every hedge-row is set with trees, and 
these answer every purpose of ornament with no sacrifice 
of land. 

" Sabbath, July 8. — Evening, Scotch Church, Crown 
Court, Mr. Cumming. Half full, plain people, and a 
plainer church. Mr. C. had a good lecture. Very absurd 
on the Temperance Society. Complained of his people's 
irregularity in coming late to church. Did not understand 
why people should be so well conducted in the Church of 
England, and rude in the Scotch Church. People seemed 
heartless ; and altogether I should fear that Presbyterianism 

1 Rev. Nathaniel Paterson, of Glasgow, author of the Manse Garden. 



SYDNEY SMITH IN ST. PAUL'S. 



117 



does not thrive in London. I question how far it is worth 
while to struggle for its lifeless existence." 

This casual estimate of Presbyterianism in London is 
worth something to us at the present stage of our progress. 
There is no sign of prepossession in its favour here. At 
this period a Scotch pulpit in London seemed to be some- 
what of a forlorn hope. He saw the nakedness of the 
land. Probably the prospect had grown a little brighter 
when, four years afterwards, he was invited to take part in 
that "struggle," but even then it required not a little 
courage to encounter the anticipated difficulties. 

" Sabbath, July 15th. — St. Paul's in the afternoon. Syd- 
ney Smith, very good (some might have been suspicious) 
on pious men endeavouring to render religion attractive. 
Magnificent anthem from 1 Kings viii., Dedication of the 
Temple. The richest and most full-toned voice I ever 
heard, one of the choir, ' The heaven of heavens cannot 
contain Thee, how much less this house which I have 
builded,' brought tears profusely into some eyes. Whether 
occasioned by the music alone, or helped by the considera- 
tion that this was the temple of England, I cannot tell. 
Then in the answer, 'And God said unto Solomon,' as the 
voice seemed to draw nearer as if descending from above, 
the effect was stupendous. An anthem, by Dr. Boyce. 
This is in the mimetic style of Handel's Creation of Light, 
and Chorus of Angels to the Shepherds." 

"Edinburgh, Sept. 3. 

" My deae Uncle,— Mary, Andrew, and I had a week's 
tour to St. Andrews, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling. At the 
first- mentioned place I could not but feel a touch of your 



118 



ANCIENT CHURCHES IN FIFE. 



indignation at the iconoclastic reformers. To see nothing 
but three towers (tottering to their fall) of a cathedral, once 
the largest in the world, and whose roof of burnished 
copper once shone to the eye of pilgrims like the gilded 
mosque of Omar; and see cattle feeding on the altar- 
stone hallowed by the relics of St. Andrew the apostle, 
almost moved me from my right mind. But it would 
have been from my right mind, for I believe that, after all, 
' the dingin' doon o' the Cathedral' helped the Eeforma- 
tion. But when you come next to Scotland, I must take 
you for a few days to do the churches of Fife, some of 
them are so very old — St. Monance, Crail, Leuchars, etc. 
Some of them retain the Episcopal form of a chancel 
behind the pulpit, and disposed exactly like one of your 
own parish churches. Above all, the church of St. Bule, 
built A.D. 375, and to whose antiquity you can scarcely 
find a match in England. It is almost as solid and homo- 
geneous as a rock. We climbed to the top of its lofty 
tower, which is unique in ecclesiastical architecture, being 
earlier than Saxon, and had a noble view. I say we, for 
there were the families of three ministers, — a daughter of 
Dr. Andrew Thomson, a son and two daughters of Dr. 
Lee, and ourselves. At Dundee we were overwhelmed 
with kindness, which was all the more welcome that it 
was conferred not for our own sakes. I scarcely thought 
that so much feeling could have outlived thirty years ; 
and when I saw the church and people, I understood how 
my father had found it hard to leave them." 

During the autumn after his return from England, he 



HIS FIRST SERMON. 



119 



passed through the usual trials, and was licensed by the 
Presbytery of Edinburgh on the 11th of October. Some 
of his experiences at that interesting crisis of his course 
have been preserved in a letter addressed to Mr. Arnot : — 

" 10th October 1838. 

" I do not know (nor do you) the feelings of a young 
lady when, for the last time, she subscribes her own fair 
name ; but I feel to-night very like as if I were to change 
my name to-morrow. And so in some sense I will, for I 
must forego the Esq. with which the courtesy of the pre- 
sent age has so long honoured me. But I must beware 
of nonsense, for my mood is not so nonsensical as usual 
to-night. 

" Henry Taylor told me that you had bespoken my first 
sermon. Had I known this sooner I might possibly have 
availed myself of the permission (indeed I did know sooner, 
for Willie gave me a hint about it) ; but Dr. Somerville, 
of Drumelzier, has long held me engaged to proceed to the 
top of the Lammermuirs, and make my d&hut to the hun- 
dred shepherds who form the good man's pastoral cure. 
He was an old friend of my father, and it was in that 
neighbourhood that my father began his labours as a min- 
ister's assistant, at Broughton, viz. My chief objection to 
the Doctor's pulpit is that it does not command a more 
extensive prospect than the desk in Mr. Wilkie's Grass- 
market Schoolroom, where I am welcome to hold forth 
any Thursday night, so that a regular church will be quite 
as much a novelty and as formidable on Sabbath week as 
it would be on Sabbath first. Then my second and third 
Sabbaths are pre -occupied, and that which follows (the 



120 



ILLNESS OF JAMES HALLEY. 



first Sabbath, of November) is our Edinburgh Sacrament, 
when I cannot think of leaving home. But any day 
thereafter, if you will receive me, and if we may provide 
for what is so distant, I shall be exceeding glad to visit 
you, and, if it be any relief, to bring a sermon. Should it 
be the day when you supply Dunipace, so much the better, 
as it is the smaller church. 

" There is one thing which has been very much in my 
thoughts for some days. Had Halley's health been spared 
he would by this time have been a year a preacher. You 
yourself have been rather more. I remember one Thurs- 
day in September of last year when he came here from 
Glasgow to consult Alison. He was very ill, and had de- 
layed his coming for a day that he might see you licensed. 
At that time you were uppermost in his thoughts, and 
oftenest in his conversation. I do not think that we can 
ever hope for a more ardent friend, and one every way so 
valuable. I am sure / cannot, and at this moment I 
almost feel as if I was doing a wrong thing in taking 
license when he is quite disabled for it, so very strange 
does it seem that I should be a preacher before him. Last 
Monday I heard that Mr. Boss, an Edinburgh physician, 
who goes to Madeira yearly, had sent word to Mrs. Eoss 
that he found Halley considerably worse on his arrival 
three weeks ago. Have you had any word from his Glas- 
gow friends ? 

" Smeaton has been assistant at North Leith for six 
weeks, and has refused Morningside. 

" I do not know how you felt it, but I find it extremely 
difficult to write sermons with sufficient plainness and 



DEATH OF HIS SISTER MARY. 



121 



seriousness so long as I have no settled charge, and with- 
out making thought and style the chief considerations. It 
shows a vanity and disingenuity which I would not at one 
time have suspected, for I have always thought niyself 
honest in the main. And yet, after all, I think I could 
forego reputation for the certainty of doing good. I agree 
with you that the system of candidateship is very bad, as 
it withdraws a preacher's thoughts from the main end of 
his office. Have you found a substitute for it by which we 
who have no patrons may become ordained ministers ? I 
hope to spend this evening quietly, for so I have scarcely 
spent the day, but could not help it. It is other people, 
and not myself, that spend my days." 

" Edinburgh. Nov. 27, 1838. 
" Dear Mes. Vetch, — You will remember the Friday 
evening which you last spent here. I always shall. We 
little thought that Mary's pale looks that night were the 
beginning of her last illness. The first week I had no 
fear ; but on the Monday evening before her death, I re- 
turned from Larbert, where I had been preaching, and was 
uneasy at finding her no better. At the same instant I 
heard of the death of John Mackenzie, and a depression 
came over me, from which I could not recover, though I 
did not then know that Mary's was the same complaint. 
Nor was it till the Saturday night that Dr. Huie appre- 
hended danger. She herself was probably never aware of 
the likely termination of her trouble, nor was it needful or 
desirable that she should. Now that she is taken from us, 
I cannot but feel that it was the kindness of God which 



122 DEVELOPMENT OF HIS SISTER'S CHARACTER. 



selected from our number the one who was ready. She 
has left us at the time when she was becoming most in- 
teresting. Her want of strength had been a great draw- 
back to her. It made her very incapable of exertion, left 
her little spirit for conversation, and damped the ardour of 
her mind. But soon after my return from England, I 
saw a great alteration. Her health and sprightliness were 
returning. She was taking a charge of the household 
arrangements, and had applied to her studies with fresh 
spirit. This told on the development of her mind ; and 
during our short trip to St. Andrews, etc., I was surprised 
and delighted at the amount of her intelligence and saga- 
city and information. Her deep feeling I had always 
been aware of. But from that time I regarded her in a 
new light, and felt that she was a wise companion, as well 
as an amiable sister ; and if I wanted any one to accom- 
pany me in a walk I was glad if I could secure her. When 
I was tired of reading or writing, I would go into the 
dining -room and interrupt her at the piano, and we would 
spend a lively hour in the Meadows, but now I sit here all 
day and hear that music no more. I do not know how it 
is with others, but I feel as if I and my young friends 
never had such reason to be thoughtful as at this season, 
when so many young persons are sick and dying. When 
we are so soon to leave the world, it is the best kindness 
which we can show to one another to try and secure a 
happy meeting on the other side of time. If we love the 
blessed Saviour we cannot too soon be with Him ; but till 
then we are not fit to die. There is a book which I am at 
present reading, and if you have not met with it, I think 



RESIGNATION OF APPOINTMENT TO MORNING SIDE. 123 

you would like it also. It is Doddridge's Rise and Progress 
of Religion in the Soul. It is a book which requires to be 
read at leisure. It is full of useful suggestions, and is 
written with great earnestness, and has done more good 
than almost any work I know. If you have not got it, 
and would like to read it, I should be very happy to send 
you one of my copies, for I happen to have three. As the 
affairs of Momingside Church have got for the present into 
great confusion, I have agreed to become Mr. Candlish's 
missionary, in the place of John Mackenzie, who is going 
to Dunkeld. This will not be so difficult to a beginner as 
a parish and a church. How do you like your new 
minister ? 

" Mr. Wilkie is very ill with fever. He has been under 
it for a week, and has not yet got the turn." 

TO ME. AENOT. 

''December 31st, 1838. 
"You heard rightly that I had accepted Morningside, 
and yet I am not, and never will be, its minister. Had I 
adhered to my acceptance, I would have been settled in the 
most delightful of all the new churches in Scotland, but 
it would have brought before the public an angry alterca- 
tion which had been going on amongst some good men, 
not to their credit. And in such cases the occasional cause 
of the evil is sure to be considered a party. I am much 
happier where I am than I could have been for the next 
twelve months in Morningside, with a pamphlet, and 
newspaper, and presbytery controversy about my induc- 
tion, and all this I had certain knowledge would ensue. I 



124 



BEREAVEMENTS. 



withdrew my acceptance, and Mr. Grant 1 having with- 
drawn from being a candidate, George Smeaton will be 
elected to-day, and, I am happy to say, will accept. My 
withdrawment has brought upon me the resentment of 
my supporters, but when Smeaton settles among them 
they will be thankful. . . . 

" I have come to see that a sermon will not be well 
delivered, that it will not even interest the audience, much 
less do any good, unless it has been the subject of much 
prayer beforehand. For the want of this, two or three 
discourses, which I thought my best, have proved- such 
failures that I have no heart to look at them any more. . . . 

" This year closes darkly on me. It is not only that 
loss of which you already know, and which you understand 
so well, but in Mr. Wilkie I have lost the friend here who 
was a father and a counsellor, and that at the very time 
when I most needed a good adviser, the elasticity of my 
own spirits being broken, and difficult matters requiring 
serious deliberation. I feel for his family almost as much, 
perhaps more, than for our own." 

The event to which he alludes as having caused the year 
to close darkly over Mm, was the death of his sister Mary, 
on the 5th of November. Grave, gentle, retiring, she 
drooped and withered, and was removed in her nineteenth 

i Minister of the Free Church at Ayr. A sharp conflict of opinion took 
place among certain grave and eminent men, members of the congregation, on 
the choice of a minister ; hut the blame, whatever may have been its amount, 
lay entirely with themselves, for the bearing of the two young ministers Avas 
noble throughout. Perfect friendship between themselves, a wise reticence, 
and a frank retirement gave promise early of what became the ultimate result 
in either case, viz., an appropriate sphere and an honourable ministry. 



st. george's mission. 



125 



year. Very strong and tender were the bonds that knit 
the whole family together; correspondingly severe were the 
pangs of parting. But in each of these successive bereave- 
ments the survivors were cheered in their sorrow by the 
well-founded and well-defined hope of immortality, which 
threw a halo round the parting scene. The grief caused 
by breaches in a family who are united in the Lord is as 
deep as any other grief, but there is a softness in it which 
is peculiar to itself. The sorrow is all there, but the 
burning has been taken out of it. 

As soon as he had obtained license, he was engaged by 
Mr. Candlish and the Session of St. George's to conduct 
their district mission in Eose Street. As there was only 
one meeting for public worship every Lord's day in the 
mission station, he enjoyed occasional opportunities of 
preaching in the various churches of the city. He had 
now attained the consummation of his long cherished 
desire — the liberty of proclaiming the unsearchable riches 
of Christ. He entered upon the discharge of his duties 
with characteristic zeal. He held his calling in the highest 
honour ; he magnified his office, while he humbled himself. 
From his childhood he cherished an ardent love of this 
work, and he loved it to the end. Here is the commence- 
ment of a ministry that, through God's grace, will never 
slacken, and never waver, until the minister, wearied and 
weakened, shall be summoned by the Master to " come up 
higher." 

"Jan. 7, 1839. 

" Dear Mrs. Vetch, — Your very kind and welcome 
letter deserved an earlier answer. Once upon a time, the 



126 



NOTES OF HIS EXPERIENCE 



more I did, the more I was able to do. But this is not 
the case at present. When the day's work is done, instead 
of sitting down to write sermons and letters, etc., I am 
glad to rest myself over a book, or talking with a friend. 
I half suspect there is some laziness in this, though there 
is something of weariness also. But, be it what it may, I 
must reform, or make up my mind to lose my correspond- 
ents, a loss which I cannot afford. Perhaps you have 
heard that I have become Mr. Candlish's assistant, or more 
properly the St. George's missionary. Most of my work 
consists in visiting the inhabitants of Bose Street, of whom 
there are nearly 3000. I do not meet with many in abject 
poverty, as would be the case were my diocese in the 
Cowgate or Grassmarket, but there are many families 
quite wretched from the dissipation of the fathers, and the 
heart-broken tawdriness of the mothers. The poorer people 
are in great part street-porters and hostlers. They are for 
the most part improvident, and their children ill-educated. 
I find it extremely difficult to induce them to send the 
younger children to the infant school. That school is 
quite a pet with me ; but the parishioners see no use in 
it, as the scholars in a day school will learn as much reading 
in a twelvemonth as the infantry do during the three 
years of their attendance. Perhaps it is also against it 
that the teacher is so young, for, though admirably fitted 
for the purpose, she has quite a girlish appearance ; the 
very contrast to the severe and spectacled dames who 
taught the Hornbook to our grandpapas. Amongst many 
bad, and some indifferent, I have met with a few excellent 
people, and I have marked their houses £ that I may go 



IN MISSIONARY WORK. 



127 



back and refresh myself from time to time, when wearied 
of more irksome work.' To-day I was visiting a very in- 
teresting boy, who is dying of consumption, at the age of 
sixteen. It was my third visit, and he cannot live to 
receive many more. His information is remarkable, and 
the first time I saw him I was struck with the amount of 
reading which casually appeared in his conversation. This 
may have in some measure been owing to his employment, 
for he was learning to be a book printer. But his warm 
and intelligent and manly piety was what above all things 
delighted me. To-day, he told me that, from what he felt 
in himself, his time could not be long now ; ' but the nearer 
it comes I feel always the happier ; I wish I could tell 
the joy that I feel ! ' He said this with a voice and a 
smile so natural and so expressive that I could not doubt 
that it was really what he felt, but I asked him what gave 
him such joy. He said that he could not tell how it came 
into his mind, but that the passage on which he rested 
most was the saying , ' "Whoso calleth on the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ the same shall be saved/ Here he 
misquoted a word, showing that, as he said himself, his 
memory of texts was giving way, but the spirit of the 
passage is in the Bible. He said many things which made 
me wonder at his attainments, and envy, or at least rejoice, 
in his happiness." 



CHAPTEE III 



MINISTRY AT ABERNYTE. 

Early in 1839, about three months after the commence- 
ment of his mission work in Edinburgh, Mr. Hamilton 
received and accepted an invitation to be assistant mini- 
ster in the parish of Abernyte, in the Presbytery of Dun- 
dee. The circumstances connected with this appointment, 
while strikingly providential on their higher side, are on 
their lower side quite romantic. The late Mr. Nairne of 
Dunsinane, a proprietor in the parish of Collace, a gentle - 
man of high social position and distinguished Christian 
character, enjoying the rich evangelical ministry of Mr. 
Andrew Bonar in his own church, benevolently interested 
himself in the spiritual condition of the neighbouring 
parish of Abernyte. The incumbent was aged and infirm ; 
the congregation had melted away to a handful ; the 
people were scattered as a flock without a shepherd. 
Having obtained from the minister and other parties in- 
terested a kind of unofficial yet substantially authentic 
commission to look out for a suitable assistant, Mr. Nairne 
betook himself to the metropolis, in prosecution of his 
delicate and important errand. On the Sabbath he went 
to worship in St. George's. Instead of the eminent 



THE MINISTER OF THE PARISH. 



129 



preacher who then was, and still remains, minister of the 
congregation, a youth entered the pulpit, slender in form, 
and somewhat awkward in gait and gesture. By the 
opening prayer the Christian country gentleman was 
carried into the holy of holies. As soon as the devotions 
were closed, and he had regained his sight, — for he was 
blind with weeping, — he ejaculated, " This is the minister 
for Abernyte." No time was lost. Inquiries subsequently 
made confirmed first impressions, and it was forthwith 
arranged that Mr. Hamilton should preach at Abernyte, 
in the first instance by way of feeler, to give Mr. Wilson 
and his people a specimen of his gifts. The minister, a 
kind and hospitable old gentleman, with an old-fashioned 
spencer above his coat, and an old-fashioned wig on* his 
head, received the stranger with hospitality at the manse 
on his arrival from Edinburgh, and manifested towards 
him ever after a sincere and increasing affection. Of 
nervous temperament, and shy towards strangers, Mr. Wil- 
son, notwithstanding, was not long in getting over the 
preliminaries, and admitting the new inmate of the manse 
to a position of familiar friendship. As a result and a 
proof of his growing confidence, he placed all his manu- 
scripts at the disposal of his assistant, saying, as he pointed 
to the receptacle which contained his treasures, " My dear, 
these are my sermons ; I give them to you ; I have no 
further use for them ; make what use of them you please ; 
they will be of use to you." I do not know what answer 
Mr. Hamilton gave to this queer proposal, but in declining 
the offer he would no doubt take care to let his venerable 
friend softly down. At this time, and for long after, the 



130 



CLASSES FOR THE YOUNG. 



minister took it for granted that his assistant would 
become his successor. His estimate has been preserved 
in a letter written some months later by one who knew 
all the parties : — " Yesterday I was at the manse, but did 
not see Mr. Hamilton, as he was at a funeral. I had a 
nice chat with good old Mr. Wilson. I never felt such 
an affection for him before; he could not speak of Mr. 
Hamilton without emotion ; his heart seemed quite over- 
flowing with love and gratitude to him. He spoke of his 
numberless qualities, the great comfort he had in him, his 
condescending kindness to himself, and his shining piety 
and talents. He said a college friend of Mr. Hamilton's 
had visited him on Monday, of whom Mr. H. had a 
high opinion. He conducted family worship, but, says 
Mr. Wilson, it was not to be compared to Mr. Hamilton's. 
During this conversation the tears were dropping from 
the worthy old man's eyes." 

He began his ministry in Abernyte about the middle 
of February. The people of the parish and neighbour- 
hood soon became interested in his preaching. The con- 
gregation rapidly increased. On March 13th, writing to 
his brother, he says, — " I am still new enough to bring 
out a good congregation. Though the snow was pretty 
deep, a number of people came up last Sabbath from Inch- 
ture. The people are remarkably attentive, but I fear 
novelty may account for most of it." 

No sooner had he begun his ministry in this place than 
he fixed his attention on the young with the steadiness 
and strength of an instinct. A class was invited to 
assemble in the church on Sabbath afternoon, and the 



TABLE-TALK. 



131 



whole parish was canvassed for young persons above the 
age of fifteen. A fair beginning was immediately made, 
and the work went on increasing both in breadth and 
depth. A part of the time was occupied with examina- 
tion, and part by a familiar lecture. It was, for work 
like this, a virgin field ; and the workman possessed rare 
talents for its cultivation. Good fruit began to appear. 
Old and young were interested. Already the ardent 
teacher perceives "some hopeful faces." His desire for 
such a sight doubtless went far to produce it. The hearts 
of his youthful audience were kindled at his fire. He 
looked to this class " as the thing likely to do most good," 
and he did not look in vain. 

Some lively notices appear in the letters of this period 
regarding the table-talk of the manse, where the old 
minister and his helper were the only interlocutors. 
Though very affectionate and fatherly, Mr. Wilson holds 
fast by his own opinions, and defends them, even when 
they are of doubtful orthodoxy, with extraordinary perti- 
nacity. At one time he holds a spoonful of porridge in 
transit between the dish and his mouth for a full half- 
hour, until he has finished a dispute on the doctrine of 
reprobation. At another he consumes ten minutes in the 
process of pouring out a cup of tea for his thirsty helper, 
because that helper will not concede to him that the moon 
has nothing to do with the tides. 

To his brother he writes, 8th April 1839 :— -"This is a 
bright day after many dark ones. Our three cats are 
very happy in the sun — for we have three cats, — but 
owing to the vigilance of the gamekeepers the term of 



132 



LASSITUDE AFTER LABOUR. 



feline longevity is greatly abridged in this part of the 
world, and vacancies are constantly occurring in Mr. Wil- 
son's rat-police establishment. A Monday is a day of 
idleness with me. I cannot fall soon asleep on a Sabbath 
night ; and though I lie in bed till half -past eight on 
Monday morning, I am tired till evening. My class now 
numbers twelve young men and fifteen young women. I 
have got hold of all the unmarried farm-servants except 
three, and these I hope to secure in time. 

" I will go to Dundee some day after William Burns 
arrives. He is one of the right spirit ; and a little sharp- 
ening on such an iron as his, is what I greatly want and 
long for." 

Already the waste caused by nervous prostration has 
begun. It need not be denied that when the spirit within 
is highly sharpened, it is apt to cut deeply into its cor- 
poreal sheath. If members of the clerical profession be 
good subjects for an insurance society, it must be under 
the provision that they should not be over-earnest in their 
work. A race like that which James Hamilton now 
began to run does tend to take the breath away, and 
shorten the runner's days. When an eager spirit is asso- 
ciated with a fragile frame we need not look for longevity. 
But what this life may lack in length, it will make up in 
brightness. If it fly like a shuttle through its appointed 
course, it will throw off many streaks of heavenly light as 
it threads its way through the world. 

" Abernyte, April 14, 1839. — Never felt such up r hill 
work in committing a sermon as yesterday. Bodily 
languor got the blame, but not earnest enough in praying 



NOTES OF MINISTERIAL WOEK. 133 



for assistance in that particular thing. Lay down very 
anxious — all the more so as the church would likely be 
full, the Seceders having no sermon. This morning prayed 
often and earnestly to be helped, and set above the fear 
of man, and particularly the love of applause, and I trust 
was heard and helped, for I felt unusual freedom; re- 
membered all that I had tried to commit, and the part 
which I had not came almost as good as the MS. Church 
very full. Eph. v. 14." 

"April lQth. — The passage in my preaching hitherto 
which seems to have produced the greatest impression was 
a mere description on John xiii. 1. Several have spoken 
of it ; and I remember seeing a grown man shedding tears 
abundantly — the first time I made a man cry. But the 
truly practical and most touching part of all — the love of 
Christ, on which I extemporized at the close with some 
warmth, produced no perceptible effect. Natural feeling 
and spiritual-mindedness are not identical." 

"Abernyte, April 18th, 1839. 

"My dear William,— Few things have delighted me 
more than the envelope of your Edinburgh Advertiser. 
I have nothing more to wish for you on the score of 
prizes, unless it be Dr. Welsh's and Dr. Duncan's. This 
should give you confidence in yourself. You have only to 
go on, and with God's blessing you will become the mini- 
ster that you wish to be. This winter will do you far 
more good than if it had been spent on mere mathematics. 
They do not give any hints for reaching men's hearts, and 
a minister has more to do with hearts than heads. I see 



134 



MODEST PATRIMONY POSSESSED. 



that a sentence or two spoken in the fulness of one's feel- 
ing, even though it should be extempore, is far more 
eagerly listened to than a fine sentiment, or even a good 
illustration. My evening lectures, of which not the 
twentieth part is written, are as interesting to the hearers 
as the sermons which are committed nearly word for 
word. Perhaps they are a little plainer, but the chief 
reason is because in them I 'ettle' more directly at the 
heart ; and oh, this work of preaching is chosen employ- 
ment ! As I sometimes feel now-a-days, I could let every- 
thing else go for the sake of it. Your prizes may get you 
speedily into a church, and once you are there I hope 
there will be but one wish left, and that wish fulfilling 
every day in the case of some of your hearers. Yes, there 
is but one thing worth living for ; and since God has been 
pleased to give you and me the opportunity and means of 
living for it, I hope we will be able to show that we are 
sincerely His. What I mean is this, that we who have 
'a little of our own' will show no self-seeking in looking 
out for a rich or comfortable living. There are some com- 
forts which I must have, and so must you, for we could 
not live without them ; but with humble notions, and with 
a judicious wife, or without one altogether, I believe that 
the poorest charge in the Kirk might keep you or me. 
And if such a one cast up we should not refuse it because 
it is poor. It may be too large, or have some other fault, 
but poverty should rather weigh in its favour with you 
and me. Indeed, at this day when so many churches are 
unendowed, and some getting up that will not be able to 
pay even the £80 bond, is it not the duty of such as can 



A. EICH LIVING NOT NECESSARY. 



135 



to serve these churches (or rather to serve the Head of 
the Church in them) not for filthy lucre's sake ? So 
completely do I feel this, that if an unendowed church 
were offered me now — one of which I could discharge the 
duties with any sufficiency — I could not refuse it. In 
the meantime I have been kindly sent to a place not 
beyond my strength, and where I may perhaps acquire 
strength for a larger. And what I would like is, that my 
dear brother, to whom God has given gifts which may 
one day be coveted, should bestow them on the place 
which most needs them, not that which can pay best for 
them. 

" I am glad that you are so carried by Dr. Duff. It is 
good to get such a shove now and then as will tell for 
some time to come. . . . 

"When I saw how well my father is remembered in 
Dundee, where he spent only twenty months, I almost 
grudge that he was not a town minister all along." 

"April 18 th. — Pain in shoulder. Eheumatism or liver 
complaint ? What if something lay me aside when only 
'thinking about beginning to begin/ Writing a sermon 
all day for India Mission collection, and from the subject 
grudged all the while that so little of the Gospel, so little 
of what sinners need to hear, could be brought in. Hope 
to make up in afternoon lecture somewhat. 

" April 21st. — Church full both forenoon and evening, 
but examined so long that no lecture. Thirty-four have 
now joined the class. An extempore passage, telling the 
state of matters here in Druidical times, seemed very 



136 



INVITATION TO GREENOCK 



interesting to young people. Therefore must always have 
a bit for children expressly. 

"April 23d. — A very agreeable compliment from a 
cottar's wife, that no one ever 1 made the thing so plain to 
her !' Another wished she was young again, for the sake 
of joining the class, etc." 

"Edinburgh, May 18, 1839. 

" My dear Uncle, — ... I am here on a visit of a few 
days. It is the Assembly week. Such an Assembly never 
met since 1638. The independence of our Church must 
now be asserted, or she must lay in the dust the honour 
of 300 years. There are ministers in Scotland yet who 
would sooner follow their forefathers to the Bass or the 
Castle Hill than prove unfaithful to our Church's only 
Head. The Church of Scotland is the only Establish- 
ment which neither owns a secular jurisdiction in her 
things spiritual, nor claims a jurisdiction for herself in 
things temporal. I am thankful that I belong to such a 
Church." 

At this time he steadily declined to put himself in the 
way of being chosen as minister in any vacant church. A 
very strenuous effort was made to induce him to accept a 
new charge at Greenock; but after much earnest con- 
sideration, and with great difficulty, he resolved to remain. 
The decision of such a question becomes a very important 
matter with such a man. His journal under that date 
is charged with long parallel columns, headed "For 
Greenock," and "For Abernyte," "Against Greenock." 
and "Against Abernyte." These columns were weighed 



FINALLY DECLINED. 



137 



and weighed again. Prayer and pains were employed 
successively and simultaneously in order to reach a sound 
judgment. In the scale against Greenock occur such 
items as these, " too nervous ; too weak : cannot commit 
two sermons : cannot visit 3000 people : plenty of good 
ministers there already : break down and do no more 
good." One of the entries on the side of Abernyte is — 
" Improve health." The reasons for remaining in the 
country on the ground of health had more force than he 
was inclined to ascribe to them. Even at that early period 
the extreme willingness of the spirit concealed in part from 
himself the weakness of the flesh. The conclusion of the 
whole was : — " Very harrowing parting interview with 
Messrs. Fairie and Gray; nearly five hours together. 
Decided not to go. Sought direction, but would have 
liked more clearness." And soon after he writes, — "I 
cannot at this conjuncture leave Abernyte ; and if it was 
a dreadful thing to part with these good men after giving 
the final No, I have had it all made up in the comfort of 
my own mind in thinking that it was best for them and 
for me, and I hope for Abernyte." 

I have long observed with much regret a disposition, 
pretty generally prevailing, in the public to treat the ex- 
pressed difficulties of Christian ministers in similar straits 
as so many hollow conventionalities, and to assume, with 
some measure of grossness, that beneath the surface the 
decision uniformly leant to the side which offered the 
larger stipend. I am willing, of course, to confess that 
there are mercenaries in every profession, and wherever 
these are detected I give them up to the will of their 



138 



NATURAL SCIENCE EMPLOYED 



enemies ; but I am convinced that the imputation, in the 
general form which it ordinarily assumes, is a mistake, 
and consequently a calumny. One swallow does not make 
a summer ; and I am aware that to exhibit a single example 
of magnanimous self-sacrifice and godly simplicity in the 
character of James Hamilton does not prove my case : but 
his case is not singular. For the sake of those who heed- 
lessly give currency to the charge, rather than for the sake 
of those who are its objects, I put in my protest, for it is 
a lighter calamity to be the object than the author of an 
untrue imputation. 

He threw himself into the pastoral work with all his 
might. He loved his work, and formed a strong attach- 
ment to the people. In visiting the sick he strives, with 
an extraordinary union of faithfulness and tenderness, to 
remove every species of self-righteous trust, and lead the 
sufferer in simplicity to the Saviour. Partly in his own 
journal, and partly in the testimony of surviving residents, 
I find many evidences of success. He watched every 
symptom, and turned every circumstance to account. 
"Four or five of my young people are in the way of 
meeting in the evening for the purpose of studying the 
Bible together, on a plan which I explained to them. The 
bond of union is a bible with marginal references, of which 
one of them is the fortunate possessor, and the meetings 
are held in rotation in their several houses." Already his 
love of nature, and his steadfast belief that the works of 
God might be usefully employed in illustrating His word, 
had begun to operate and to tinge his ministry. He cer- 
tainly did not work his way " from Nature up to Nature's 



IN THE SERVICE OF THE GOSPEL. 



139 



God" in the free and easy manner of those who, never 
having taken a deep view of sin, have never appreciated 
the need of a divine Eedeemer ; bnt having learned to 
know God through Christ, he was accustomed to meet and 
commune with them everywhere. The God whom this 
student met in the wayside flowers was the same loving 
Father to whom he had been reconciled through the blood 
of the cross. Thus he found a gospel everywhere in the 
world ; and thus he was sometimes, even to the last, mis- 
understood by good people, who had not passed through 
his experience, and could not sympathize with his enthu- 
siasm. "When in his preaching he expatiated with delight 
on vegetable life, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the 
hyssop that springeth out of the wall, he did not turn aside 
to another gospel, but drew the same old gospel of grace 
through a greater variety of texts than lay within the 
range of other men. " I do not wish to preach in Edin- 
burgh," he writes to his brother on the 10th May; "I 
want to get time for some little affairs, such as consulting 
books on the botany of Palestine. I still have a hankering 
that I would like to deliver a few lectures to my people 
on the natural history of the Bible. Henceforth I would 
consecrate all that I may anyhow have learned to the 
making the Bible interesting. This is a delightful place, 
as you shall see when you come. The lambs are very 
happy, and the gean trees in very fine flower." 

Acting on the noble resolution announced above, to 
consecrate all the information he possessed to the eluci- 
dation of the Scriptures, he was not very scrupulous in 
preserving conventional forms. Indeed an enthusiast, 



140 



BRANCH OF A FIG-TRRE 



with his soul towering to a considerable height above the 
commonplaces of a neighbourhood, and bent with all his 
might on one great aim, is apt to go straight to his point, 
walking over a good many venerable prejudices that 
happen to stand in his way. Forgetting altogether the 
methods by which the dignity of the pulpit had been 
maintained, and the slumbers of the congregation left un- 
disturbed from time immemorial, James Hamilton was 
wont to bring the flowers he had gathered by the way 
bodily into the desk where he presided in the weekly 
prayer-meeting, and exhibit their characters to his rural 
audience, in explanation of biblical facts and allusions. 
Visiting on one occasion at the house of a neighbouring 
proprietor, he espied a fig-tree in the garden, and begged 
a branch. Having borne his treasure home in triumph 
on his shoulder, and prepared his discourse for the evening 
meeting, he took it with him to the church. In due time, 
when the prelection had advanced to the proper point, the 
fig branch was displayed from the desk, and bore its part 
in the demonstration. At that time a great spiritual 
awakening was spreading in the neighbouring town of 
Dundee. A plain woman, whose spirit had been stirred 
in that movement, was present in the prayer-meeting at 
Abernyte, thirsting mightily for the word, and longing 
to draw water from the wells of salvation. Amazed at 
the strange phenomenon of a young minister partly 
preaching a gospel which her quickened heart recognised 
as the truth, and partly flourishing over the side of the 
pulpit the branch of a tree covered with huge green leaves, 
accompanied by discourse not perfectly comprehensible, 



DISPLAYED FROM THE PULPIT. 141 



Janet succeeded in restraining her spirit and holding her 
peace until the meeting closed ; but as soon as the last 
utterances of prayer were over, she made her way up to 
the minister and exclaimed, " Oh, Maister Hamilton, hoo 
do you gie them fig leaves when they are hungerin' for 
the bread o' life ? " Those warm-hearted, unlettered 
Christians comprehended their minister in part, and in as 
far as they comprehended they revered and loved him ; 
but some sides of this man they did not understand, and 
before these they stood amazed and bewildered. His heart 
was as deep in the revival as their own. He was the 
beloved friend and coadjutor of Burns and M'Cheyne in 
its commencement, and through its course ; but his poetic 
temperament, and enthusiasm for nature, gave a tinge to 
his preaching, which now and then became a stumbling- 
block in the way of the more prosaic sort of Christians, 
not only in Abernyte, at the beginning of his ministry, 
but even in London, down to its close. 

But while the peculiarity of his character and experi- 
ence affords a sufficient explanation as far as regards his 
own appreciation of the Gospel throughout his ministry, 
it ought to be confessed that there was, and continued to 
be, some measure of ground for the objection urged by 
the simple woman at Abernyte. By obtaining access to 
his inner life, and marking his habitual eagerness to 
win sinners unto Christ, we can well understand that he 
tasted for himself of the grace of God in every discourse ; 
but it remains true that in some discourses the grace of 
God in the Gospel was not, in the judgment of intelligent 
hearers, articulated with sufficient fulness. I find that 



142 



WILLIAM BUHNS 



some of those who loved him, and leant on his ministry 
for spiritual edification, confessed and lamented that occa- 
sionally a sermon opened and closed, steeped indeed 
throughout in the spirit of the Gospel, but without such 
a positive declaration as would enable a listener, on that 
occasion, to learn the way of life. 

"July 5th. — Preached yesterday evening at Blairgowrie. 
Delightful friend Mr. Macdonald. Suggestion about 
written questions for self-examination to young com- 
municants. 

" I am too sensitive. Find the image of myself more 
in Mrs. Huntington than any one of whom I have read. 
All her susceptibility to friendship, and that sensitive 
dread of hurting friends, and nervous fear of cooling them. 
To-day have been in utter misery, and am only getting 
over it, because neglected to thank Mrs. Kinnear for the use 
of her gig, and because, in coming out of Miss Eliza's room, 
I complained of being fatigued, and Mrs. K. seemed con- 
cerned that I should have gone to see her in that state. 
Fear that my visit was of little service to Miss E. and J., 
and this aggravates my distress. Lord, send her a better 
teacher, and grant that she may be one of those sheep 
who shall never be plucked out of Christ's hand." 

TO REV. J. WILLIS. 
"Abernyte, by Inchture, 27th Aug. 1839. 

"■ My dear Sir, — . . . You will have heard of the 
movement in St. Peter's, Dundee. I hope that much real 
good is going on. I have addressed Burns' congregation 
twice, on a week evening, and never met a more attentive 



AND THE REVIVAL IN DUNDEE. 



143 



or more impressed audience. He has had a meeting 
every night since Thursday fortnight, and so eager are the 
people to hear the Word, that every night he has an over- 
flowing congregation. On the first three evenings there 
was much excitement among the people, and many (as 
at Kilsyth) cried out under the force of strong convic- 
tions. These expressions of feeling, and the lateness of 
the first meetings, have supplied a handle to gainsayers ; 
but the work makes progress in spite of them, and from 
what I have seen and heard from Mr. Burns, I have no 
doubt that there is a remarkable pouring out of the Spirit 
of God upon many. I have seldom seen any preacher 
who so vividly realized things unseen, and who had so 
strong faith in the imparted strength of his heavenly 
Master as Burns himself. I would say that he is more 
distinguished {prima facie) by zeal for the glory of Christ 
than, as I have noticed that many are, by mere concern 
for perishing sinners. This gives a lofty bearing and an 
apostolical character to his ministrations, and keeps him 
from many sources of vexation to which others not so 
actuated are liable. I do not say that he wants the other 
motives to ministerial fidelity, but I do say that every 
other is with him subordinated to that noblest of all, the 
exalting of Christ in the salvation of souls. He speaks, 
too, with such warmth and solemnity, such empressement, 
that his hearers cannot for a moment forget his earnest- 
ness and sincerity. I find three difficulties which ordin- 
arily oppose the success of the Gospel message : It is 
very difficult to secure the attention of the hearers, still 
more difficult to make them discover that you are sincere 



144 



HIS MOTHER AND THE FAMILY. 



in what you say (that you will not be put o$ ), and most 
difficult of all to convince them that God is sincere in 
what He says. After the example of M'Cheyne and 
Andrew Bonar, we have set agoing here a weekly prayer 
meeting. I hope that good will come of it. It has had 
the effect of letting me see that there are more seriously 
disposed people in the country-side than I would have 
thought, but most of them come from without the parish. 
Indeed the parish is so small that of itself it could not 
half fill the church. There is nothing that has been so 
intimately forced home on my conviction of late as the 
powerlessness of all means till vitalized by the Spirit's 
energy. And I have been imploring the praying people 
here to cry mightily to God for the descent of the Church's 
Comforter." 

"Abernyte, Sept. 9, 1839. 

" Deae Mes. Vetch,— This is a Monday, a day when I 
am often wearied, but perhaps the more on that account 
the day which most reminds me of my friends. It is the 
day that I have most leisure for thinking of them, and, if 
I were not very lazy or very tired, for writing to them. 
I must not let another Monday pass without writing to 
you, though amongst my unanswered letters I see some 
as old as March. You know that I have been here for 
half a year as assistant to the old minister of this parish. 
Since the end of June I have had the great enjoyment of 
a visit from my mother and all the rest of them. They 
have been living here in the manse as Mr. Wilson's 
boarders — an arrangement which I daresay mamma feels a 
little queer, after being all along accustomed to preside 



THE LANDSCAPE. 



145 



over her own establishment; but still it has been good 
for us all, and particularly for Andrew, who seems quite 
renovated after his two fevers. They all leave me at the 
end of this week, unless I can manage to retain Jeanie 
for a little longer. The greatest external drawback to 
this place is the want of a house of my own, to which I 
could bring my friends. It would be pleasant during 
those winter months which must soon be here, if I had 
my mother or sister, or some one to enliven the monotony 
of a manse with no occupant save its ancient minister. 
In most respects the place is one for which I should be 
thankful, and am thankful. It is not large beyond my 
strength, and I think there are appearances of good among 
some of the people. You are fond of fine scenery: we 
look down on the rich Carse of Gowrie, the Firth of Tay, 
and the coast of Fife, — places very interesting to me at this 
moment, for they bring to my mind an excursion with 
Mary at this same season last year. There are some 
pleasant walks, and some sweetly retired spots. To-day 
I sat a long while at the foot of a cascade which tumbles 
from the most romantic hill I ever saw, and I could have 
sat half the dav, the sound of the water ' devallincr into a 
pool profound' was so soothing ; and it was amusement 
enough to watch the waterfall itself. I had no idea that 
so great variety could have been produced by the descent 
of a not very large stream. Such a waterfall is not the 
uniform thing people take it to be. There is an endless 
diversity in the form of the cataract. It seems to come 
in pulses, — fits of alternate enlarging and lessening. And 
then there are a multitude of smaller jets well worth 

K 



146 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 



watching. What helped to enliven it was the anxiety of 
sundry trout to jerk themselves up the precipice. Of 
course the nimblest of them failed, but this did not daunt 
the rest. One enterprising fellow made such a somerset 
that he fell back on the mossy rock below, at a consider- 
able distance from the water, but he soon regained his 
proper element. One thing I noticed in this adventurer 
was that he did not find his way back to the water by a 
succession of leaps, as I have seen less practised fishes do, 
but he wriggled over the slimy rock like a serpent, and 
made directly for the water. You do not say whether 
you have found out any good people in your neighbour- 
hood. I know of few things so likely to be useful to us 
as a friend willing to talk freely and naturally on the 
' great things of God.' . . . There are some people who pro- 
fess religion who are so cold and stiff and unnatural when 
they speak about it, but it is delightful to meet with one 
whose heart is so warmed by the love of Christ that it is 
more pleasant and natural for him to speak the words of 
eternal life than to converse on any other subject. . . . 
I sometimes find it very delightful to pray for my friends. 
Besides the far higher end, it has the effect of increasing 
our affectionate interest in them. When I say that I 
often pray for you, I hope that you will do the same for 
me ; and the things which I have the most need of are 
not temporal mercies (for of them I have had more than 
my share), but a forgetfulness of myself in the service 
of God, and more concern for the souls of dying men. 
... I had a long letter from Mr. Halley lately. He is 
wearing slowly away to the 'Happy Land/ and as full 



SECRET CONCERT IN PRAYER. 



147 



of sprightliness as ever, though he can only walk on 
crutches. . . . James Hamilton." 

About this time he became connected with a select 
society, about twelve in number, bound together in a 
common covenant to devote themselves with all their 
might to the advancement of the kingdom — the revival 
of the Church. Two of the members, Leslie Miller and 
Hewitson, after fulfilling their course, have entered into 
rest. Several are now in the high places of the heathen 
field, and the rest are labouring in the ministry at home. 
The bonds were intimate and peculiar : the union and its 
objects were, for prudential reasons, kept strictly private. 
The primary object was their own advancement in the 
divine life. After this, and by means of it, they sought 
the good of Zion, the prosperity of their own Church, and 
of Christ's cause in the world. Their means were prayer, 
each apart, or any two or three who might be near, in 
company — but whether apart or together, all in concert, — 
and mutual correspondence. From such roots as these, 
striking deep unseen, sprang great and beautiful fruits for 
Scotland and for the world. 

Mr. M'Cheyne, Mr. Burns, Mr. A. Bonar, and Mr. E. 
M'Donald frequently visited Abernyte, and contributed 
by their addresses at the weekly prayer-meetings to kindle 
and spread the flame of spiritual zeal that, to a large ex- 
tent, at that time pervaded the district. 



148 



ROBERT M'CHEYNE. 



ME. M'CHEYNE TO ME. HAMILTON. 

"loth Jan. 1840. Wed. 

" My deae Friend, — "Will you excuse lack of ceremony, 
and come down to-morrow and preach to us the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ ? We have the Communion on the 
Sabbath ; we have no Fast-day, but only a meeting in the 
evening at a quarter-past seven. Come, my dear Sir, if 
you can, and refresh us with your company. Bring the 
fragrance of the bundle of myrrh along with you, and may 
grace be poured into your lips. — Yours ever, 

" Eobt. Murray M'Cheyne." 

This is an interesting morsel. It exhibits almost to the 
reader's eye one of the most memorable scenes in the 
spiritual history of Scotland. It reveals the bond of sacred 
brotherhood between M'Cheyne and Hamilton at the crisis 
of a movement which has contributed much to mould the 
religious character of the age. Although the revival at its 
spring felt the hand of William Burns more than any other 
human agency, providential circumstances connected it 
more with M'Cheyne in its subsequent course. Besides 
his personal work for a short time as minister of St. Peter's, 
Dundee, the early and sudden removal of the workman 
contributed greatly to spread and deepen the evangelical 
earnestness that characterized the period. There is a close 
analogy between the experience of Hedley Yicars and that 
of Bobert M'Cheyne. Upon both, in diverse spheres, the 
Spirit of God was poured out in great measure. Both in 
early youth were raised by Divine grace to measures of 
attainment in the life of faith seldom attained by the ripest 



HYMNS AND PSALMS. 



149 



believers, and then suddenly removed from conspicuous 
positions. The result of this peculiar providential arrange- 
ment in regard to both was, that through their early 
removal they became the means of advancing the Ke- 
deemer's kingdom more than, in all probability, it could 
have been advanced by lengthened, even though devoted, 
lives. 

Mr. Hamilton was grieved with popular ignorance when 
it crossed his path, and consumed with a desire to en- 
lighten it. Eager to communicate needful knowledge in 
the shortest and surest way, he was restive under such 
restraints as he thought were imposed only by custom, 
and not sustained by reason. I have heard him lament 
that it was not competent to a minister, when expounding 
such a book as the Acts of Apostles, to hang a big map 
on the wall behind the pulpit, and secure a long pointing- 
rod, as a part of his preaching furniture. 

From his youth upward, he loved hymns. To some of 
the good people of the parish, the hymns were as distasteful 
as the botany. One elder, surviving still in an honoured 
old age, held fast by the view which is still maintained 
by some worthy Christians, both in Scotland and America, 
that it is wrong to sing anything in public worship but the 
Psalms of David. Being a good singer, and a willing 
helper in good works, he had much difficulty in avoiding 
compromise on this point. One instance is recorded, much 
to his credit, in which he actually led the congregation 
in singing one of the Scotch paraphrases that had been 
given out by a stranger, when there was no other precentor 
present, and the alternative was presented of singing a 



150 



UNION OF THE FAMILY. 



hymn or no praise. Long afterwards, an opportunity was 
afforded to the minister of repaying the worthy elder in 
kind. The farmer of Abernyte, having occasion to visit 
London, accepted there the hospitality of Dr. Hamilton. 
When " the Church in the house " had assembled, and the 
worship was about to begin as usual with the singing of a 
hymn, Dr. Hamilton, suddenly remembering the presence 
and the prejudice of his friend, laid aside the book, saying, 
" We shall omit the hymn to-night, and sing one of the 
psalms of David." 

It has been already incidentally mentioned that, by an 
arrangement with Mr. Wilson, satisfactory to all the 
parties, his mother, with her two younger sons, took up 
her summer quarters in the manse of Abernyte. In this 
way the family obtained their usual vacation in a rural 
district, and, in addition, a period of delightful union after 
the natural dispersion had begun. It was a plan that 
postponed for a little that final upbreaking of the house, 
which the maturity of the children renders necessary at 
length. For these three summer months the son enjoyed 
the privilege of looking up to his mother in the house, and 
the mother in the public assembly enjoyed and valued the 
privilege of hearing the word of life from the lips of her 
son. It was a green spot in the landscape of the family 
life which threatened now, in the ordinary course of time, 
to become somewhat sere. 

The private records of his ministry at Abernyte are very 
full, and very precious, but they must for the most part 
remain private. They were not meant for the public eye, 
and therefore publication would spoil them. Like some 



SEED GROWING IN SECRET. 



151 



tender plants that have been nursed in the shade, they 
would lose their beauty and fragrance if exposed to the rays 
of the noonday sun. To place those self-inspections, and 
those notes of alternate disappointment and success with 
individuals and families, under the public gaze, would be to 
misplace them ; and nothing is beautiful out of its place. 
The extracts that have been submitted consist of portions 
which, in the Editor's judgment, might be published with- 
out breach of confidence towards either the living or the 
dead. For the rest, the reader must be content with the 
testimony of an eye-witness, that the tracks of James 
Hamilton's daily life in the parish are those of an ambas- 
sador for Christ, beseeching all to be reconciled to God ; 
of a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
dividing the word of truth ; of a seeker for souls who 
laboured in season, out of season, becoming all things to 
all men that he might gain some ; of a wakeful watcher, 
who marked every symptom, grieving over failure, and 
rejoicing over every instance of success ; of a servant who 
so lived and laboured that he might be ready, at whatever 
time the Master might come, to give in his account 
with joy. 

The fruit, according to the testimony of surviving ob- 
servers, was abundant. Not a few live to thank God for 
sending him for a time to the parish ; and not a few have 
departed, rejoicing in the Saviour of whom they learned 
from his lips. 

" Wi September 1839. — On two Thursdays preached in 
St. Peter's, Dundee, and saw something of the glorious 
work going forward there. The first time, was lamentably 



152 THE GOSPEL THE GREAT REFORMER. 

dull myself, not so the second time. Wonderfully eagei 
congregation both times. Each visit greatly refreshed me. 
Slept all night with Wm. Burns. • Oh, James, I cannot tell 
you what I have seen and felt upon this bed. I have 
been obliged to spring to my feet. One time at Glasgow, 
manifestation of the holiness of God which, if continued, 
would have separated soul from body.' v 

" Sept. 2 7. — Three weeks ago got the best news I ever 
heard. In a letter occasioned by some desponding re- 
marks of mine as to prospects in this place, Mrs. K. says 
that she must regard me as the instrument of her soul's 
salvation, and that, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, 
her Bible has been quite another book." 

" Abernyte, Dec. 4, 1839. 

" My dear Uncle, — In your letter you speak as if all 
attempts to arrest the relapse of the Church into Popery 
utterly failed, and it is very likely that they will continue 
to fail till it becomes high time for God to work. There 
is one thing of which I am very sure, that mere contro- 
versy, argument, however able, will neither keep out nor 
expel Popery. But the energetic preaching of the Gospel 
will. It was by exalting Christ that Luther reformed the 
Church of Eome, and Whitfield reformed the Church of 
England. And the same has been seen in Scotland at 
present. Mere attacks on intemperance and infidelity 
produced no impression on the drunkards and Chartists of 
Kilsyth and Dundee ; but the preaching of the Gospel 
made new men of them. Since I wrote to you I have 
been once at Kilsyth, and often in Dundee, and I must 



ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM ALSO NECESSARY. 153 

say that I have nowhere felt the reality of religion more 
irresistibly ; nor did I know till then the efficacy of the 
prayer of faith, that prayer which asks blessings of God, 
' believing that it shall have them.' The converts in these 
places are Christians of a superior style to the professors 
who have long filled the Church. Keligion is all in all 
with them, and sits so naturally upon them, that even 
worldly men can hardly call them either hypocrites or 
enthusiasts. They have exemplified nobly the rare virtue 
of making sacrifices for the sake of Christ, and the con- 
sequence of having identified themselves so completely 
with him is that they are joyful and assured believers. 
They know whom they have believed." 

Thus early in London Mr. Thomas Hamilton, himself 
conforming w 7 ith Episcopacy, saw and lamented the ten- 
dency of High Churchmen and High Church principles to 
Eomish superstition and to Eome. He, like many others, 
remains in that Church to this day, obtaining in it suffi- 
cient communion with kindred spirits for his own need, 
and sufficient sustenance for his own soul, but helpless to 
arrest the progress of corruption in the huge ecclesiastical 
body. The answer of his nephew, sent forth from the 
heart of the great revival, contains truth on the point, but 
not the whole truth. Without the pure and effective 
preaching of the Gospel there is no deliverance for any 
church in any period ; but besides the cherishing and 
proclamation of the Gospel by individual ministers, the 
event has proved that a reform of the Prelatic and Eras- 
tian system which prevails in England is an absolute 



154 FATHERLY CARE OF HIS YOUNGEST BROTHER. 



necessity. Modern emissaries of Rome have tried, with 
too much success, to creep back into the framework of 
the English hierarchy, from which their ancestors were 
ejected by Henry vin. 

"Jan. 30, 1840. 

"How do you get on with Mr. M'Intosh? You are 
getting an old fellow, Andrew, but I hope you will be 
learned before you are the venerable. You are not very 
strong, but I believe you would be stronger if you read 
more Latin. Brisk study and gentle play keep up the 
spirits, and are good for a constitution not naturally 
robust. To dream over a book is a bad habit for the 
mind, and I believe bad for the body too. It brings on 
listlessness and languor, and a sluggish motion of the 
animal spirits, and these again bring on headache and 
other ailments. Last Sabbath I was preaching on the 
fourth commandment, and I said it was a commandment 
which some people reserved for the Sabbath-day, but I 
thought it was meant for every day. Six days shalt thou 
labour, and do all thy work, — labour and not play. And I 
do not think people enjoy the Sabbath rightly unless they 
have been doing useful work through the week. Nor can 
people enjoy the week, on the other hand, who have not 
kept the Sabbath. We should be keeping the fourth 
commandment every day of the week." 

He has a father's place to fill, and right well he fills it, 
distributing to each his portion in due season. 

" 2&th March 1840. — This morning, on awakening in 
Perth, had been dreaming that I saw a man up among the 



A DREAM : STRATHBLANE. 



155 



mountains (of Strathblane, I think), plying a great ham- 
mer with amazing speed and perseverance on some refrac- 
tory substance. Pained looking at him hour after hour ; 
was told that this was the heart of a sinner. He did not 
weary repeating his energetic blows, though I fancied that 
he had been at work so long that I was obliged to go 
home to dine. Still through the window I saw, far up 
among the mountains, the gleam of his indefatigable 
hammer as it tilted up and down in the sunbeams, and 
heard its strokes ringing on the echoes, when I awoke to 
hear the city bells pealing six o'clock (Strathblane, Aber- 
nyte). It was impressed on my mind, in awaking, that 
the mass was to yield to some means. 4 My Spirit, saith 
the Lord/" 

" Strathblane Manse, June 1, 1840. 

" My deae Uncle, — It is long since I dated a letter to 
you from this place. Yesterday I preached for the first 
time in the church of Strathblane. My coming was 
known beforehand, and the church was very full. Mr. 
Buchanan was present, but did not hinder me from speak- 
ing freely out. One of my texts was, ' Awake, thou that 
sleepest,' and the other, 'The Spirit and the Bride say 
come.' The people were very attentive, but I could not 
help feeling that they were a more unmovable audience 
than my own at Abernyte. A few seemed to feel, but 
the greater part only listened. Mr. Buchanan is very 
kind to William and me, and has some estimable qualities." 

"Huntly, June 16, 1840. 

" My deae William, — The war must be carried on at all 
points. Like you, we have got Sabbath-schools, and, like 



156 



NATURAL HISTORY APPARATUS. 



you, I mean to enlighten the children on Bible botany. 
This letter is an order for the requisite ammunition, and, 
though it implies a vast deal of trouble, your ecclesiastical 
zeal will come to the help of your patience, and your 
brotherly love to the help of both. Send me, therefore, 
the following articles : — Three volumes Library of Enter- 
taining Knowledge, — Forest Trees, Fruits, Vegetable Sub- 
stances, — Harris's Natural History of the Bible, Paxton's 
Illustrations, the botanical volume (these two from Divi- 
nity Library), and, failing these, any good book on the 
subject. Edinburgh University Annual, if you can get it 
from any one, for my essay. Item, from Jane the brown 
parcel of fruits which I gave her, the cone from Lebanon, 
and the twig of sycamore. Among the papers in my 
herbarium next the window is a twig of olive, and a piece 
of red everlasting from Tabor. I think they are wrapped 
up in a piece of paper. They are in the division next the 
window. Item, roll up the palm leaf into a coil, which, I 
think, may be done without breaking him. Buy a pome- 
granate, by all means, if it can be got, a few almonds and 
walm ts, both in the shell. In some apothecary's or per- 
fumer a you may be able to get me a bit of frankincense, 
and it would be a great affair if you could get a few olives 
well preserved in a phial. They may be had in confec- 
tioners'. Also, some dates from a fruiterer. When all 
these are packed send them per Saturday's steamer. 
Address them, not to me, but Thomas Christie, Esq., mer- 
chant, Huntly, and they will come speedily. — Ever yours 
affectionately, James Hamilton." 



STEATHBOGTE. 



157 



TO HIS COUSIN. 

' • Huxtly, June 17, 1840. 
" ^Iy deae James, — You would have heard from me ere 
now had I not been suddenly ordered off from Edinburgh 
to take part in 'the Eeel of Bogie/ 1 I crossed that famous 
river on Saturday, and am likely to remain here for some 
weeks to come ; and though the work be very hard, from 
the people's anxiety to hear, I find that very anxiety of 
theirs animates and strengthens me. You would he de- 
lighted to see our crowded congregation of eager listeners, 
never one sleeping. Tears, and looks pale with anxiety, 
are no unusual thing in these congregations. The Word 
comes with power. Visiting is very useful, for when they 
see a minister go into a house a few neighbours are sure to 
drop in, so that we have soon a little conventicle." 

"Huntly, Aberdeexshtke, June 24, 1S40. 

" My deae Uncle, — Your letter did not find me, as you 
expected, quietly settled at Abernyte. It has followed me 
to the banks of the Bogie. I have been carrying on the 
war in this debateable ground for a fortnight past, and 
will remain here another week I do not grudge my visit 
to this place. The people value the Gospel. It seems 
almost as new to them as when "Whitfield first carried it to 
the colliers of Kingswood. The crowding to church on 
Sabbath is a fine sight. A good many are staunch to the 
suspended minister, but in this town we have the large 

1 A noted caricature of the period, "which represented some of the most 
eminent and venerable ministers of the Church in the act of dancing the reel of 
Bogie. This and similar pleasantries, -while they showed how much the whole 
country was agitated by the conflict, did not turn the evangelical party one 
hair's-breadth from their course. 



158 



LAW OVERSTRETCHED, 



majority. Many of the people have awakened to a new 
life, and many more are aroused, if they be not allowed 
to fall asleep again. You must not be startled above 
measure if you soon get a letter dated from the Calton 
JaiL A new interdict is to be taken out on Friday, and 
it is said the seven intend to enforce it. We, of course, 
intend to disregard it. It would be dreadful to leave 
these parishes destitute at a time like this, when they 
would come out to a sermon every night of the week if they 
could get it. . . . You must wait for my preferment as 
patiently as I am waiting myself. It gives me no anxiety. 
The manse garden and other pleasant things of the tem- 
poralities look now like dreams of the past. Preferment 
to reproaches and sufferings seems now in store for the 
honest party in the Church. But I do not wish to make 
you dull by dwelling on that theme. It does not make 
me dull, for I have looked at it so long that I can now look 
beyond it. I often think of what you said in a recent 
letter about first principles. It is a pleasant thing to feel 
one's standing secure on such. Believe me ever, my dear 
Uncle, your affectionate nephew, 

" James Hamilton." 

Mr. Hamilton's visit to Huntly was connected with one 
of the great turning-points in the " Ten Years' Conflict," 
which issued in the Disruption of the Scottish Church. 
The General Assembly, in carrying out the principle that 
no minister should be intruded into a parish contrary to 
the will of the congregation, had found it necessary to 
suspend seven ministers of the Presbytery of Strathbogie 



AND WITH IMPUNITY DESPISED. 



159 



for taking their orders in that matter from secular courts, 
and disobeying their ecclesiastical superiors. Having 
suspended the ordinary ministry in the district, the Church 
found it necessary to supply the people with the admini- 
stration of ordinances. Ministers from the south were 
accordingly despatched in relays to the place. The sus- 
pended officials demanded, and obtained from the Court 
of Session an interdict prohibiting the ministers sent by 
the Assembly from officiating in the parishes. The 
Assembly, and their delegates, acknowledged the com- 
petency of the Court, and obeyed the interdict, in as far 
as it prohibited them from making use of the parish 
churches, schools, and church-yards ; but in as far as it 
absolutely interdicted them from preaching the Gospel 
within the limits of the territory, they counted it incom- 
petent, and set it at defiance. In fields, when the weather 
was favourable, and in barns granted by friendly farmers, 
or proprietors, when it was bad, they preached and ad- 
ministered the sacraments. Then there was exhibited the 
strange spectacle of officers watching the arrival of the 
mail coach on Saturday afternoon, and serving a copy of 
the interdict on such passengers as were deemed, from 
their dress, to be ministers from the south. For many 
months, the delegates of the Assembly exercised their 
functions in open breach of the law, as then declared by 
the Judges. This they did with entire impunity. The 
principles of toleration, and the power of public opinion, 
were too strong for the Court. The interdict, though 
pronounced and served, was never enforced. The results 
were additional strength imparted to the foundations of 



160 



SUCCESSFUL WOEK AT HUNTLY. 



civil and religious liberty in the land, and a great advance- 
ment of evangelical religion in the district. 

"Huxtly, June 23, 1840. 

" My dear Jane, — My sojourn here for the present will 
likely terminate next week. Eight glad would I have 
been to prolong it. Short and memorable, like all pleasant 
things : I will not take a final leave, but keep a door open 
for a future visit. They are far too interesting a people to 
quit for good and all. This evening I had a catechizing 
in the church. 1 . . . 

" Besides a large audience, sixty grown-up people pre- 
sented themselves for examination from the district which 
I had specified. . . . 

" Some of the people ask if I would not just stop still till 
the new church be bigged. And, indeed, as George of 
Langrig says, ' A body might happen on a waur bit.' The 
church attendance is delightful The place was packed 
on Sabbath night. The people are very free in telling 
through the week what passages went to their heart, or 
hit their case. They are just in such a case that if they 
fall into heartless hands it will be enough to break my 
heart. I hope some of them are past danger. Others 
have not got that length but that they may relapse into 
carelessness if they be not plied with awakening truth. . . . 

" Never enjoyed better health, and never so busy. Have 
lost the feeling of nervousness on Sabbath mornings ; eat 
like a hawk, or rather like four hawks, for they take only 
one meal in the day and I take four ; and, except last 
Sabbath, never perspired any." 

1 A nonconformist place of worship lent for the occasion. 



RESULTS OF THE AWAKENING. 161 



"Abernyte, Oct. 5, 1840. 

"My dear Uncle, — That awakening which we enjoyed 
in this district last year seems to have passed away to the 
north. It has left many peaceful fruits behind it. But it 
is not a good state when the Lord is not adding daily to 
the Church such as shall be saved. There are few instances 
of recent conviction now, except it be in Mr. M'Cheyne's 
church in Dundee. But both in Dundee and Perth, and 
the parishes around, there is a great increase of vital 
Christianity since this time twelvemonth. 

" I have been reading almost exclusively the works of 
our Scottish worthies, — Brown of Wamphray, William 
Guthrie, and Binning. The eloquence of this last is 
wonderful. He keeps you floating in a balmy, lightsome 
atmosphere, where you constantly catch the fragrance of 
the bundle of myrrh, and in God's purest light see all 
things clearly. Invisibles were realities with these old 
worthies. — Your ever affectionate nephew, 

"James Hamilton." 

During the summer of 1840 an effort was made, with 
the zealous concurrence of the aged minister, to obtain 
from Government a presentation in Mr. Hamilton's favour, 
so that he might be immediately ordained as colleague and 
successor. This measure, if it had been carried into effect, 
would have increased his efficiency for the present, and 
secured his succession in any event. The effort, however, 
was destined to end in disappointment. Various unex- 
pected difficulties sprung up to hinder the attainment of 
the object. The movements produced some local com- 

L 



162 PEOSPECT OF SETTLEMENT AT ABERNYTE 

motion at the time, but they do not possess such permanent 
interest as to render them worthy of being recalled and 
recorded. Tor our own part we are not disposed, at this 
date, to scrutinize very closely any small jealousies that 
may have sprung up in any quarter to impede the progress 
of the negotiations. We own a somewhat kindly feeling 
towards the obstructors, as the instruments used by 
Providence in lifting an effective well-oiled light from a 
hollow with the circumscribed dimensions of a bushel, 
where it was in danger of settling down, and setting it on 
a candlestick, whence its beams might radiate through all 
the house. There are a good many people living now in 
the world who would be by no means disposed to quarrel 
with either the men or the things that prevented James 
Hamilton from being ordained minister of Abernyte, and 
so paved the way for his settlement in London. 

A series of letters to the members of his own family will 
convey all the information regarding the circumstances 
that is profitable or necessary : — 

"Abernyte, Oct. 23, 1840. 

" My dear William — . . The heart is deceitful above 
all things, but in coming and remaining here I hope I 
have not sought my own things. I would desire to say 
this with humility and thankfulness, for if my motive 
was pure, it was not I myself who made it pure. I have 
had selfish feelings often, have sometimes felt my natural 
indolence gratified with the lighter duties of the charge, 
and at other times have felt my natural ambition aspiring 
to something which would give me a wider field and 



FINALLY DISAPPOINTED. 



163 



greater stimulus, and at other times have shrunk from the 
prospect of protracting years in a limited enjoyment of 
all your society, and amidst a multitude of petty restraints. 
And when I have prevailed on myself to hold on, it was 
often affection and gratitude to those friends who are now 
so dear which weighed most powerfully with me. But 
amidst all my conflicting and secondary motives I have 
a trembling hope that it was the grace of God which 
eventually prevailed over my carnality, and that He did 
enable me to seek His honour in remaining here. He 
has helped me, or I would have wearied long ago. He has 
shown me things worth waiting for, and sent me more 
help and sympathy than I ever looked for, and has 
admitted me to intimacy with some who live as near 
Himself as any people that I ever saw. I wish I may 
now be made submissive to go or stay as He directs. ' He 
that believeth shall not make haste/ Here or anywhere, 
your most affectionate brother, James Hamilton." 

"Abernyte, Oct. 24, 1840. 

" My dear William, — . . And now in reference to the 
main subject of your letter, I see the hand of the Lord is 
in it. If I should get a call to Eoxburgh church at the 
present conjuncture, I would feel that it was a call from 
God, and would accept it, though it be a call to a fastidious 
and gospel-beaten city, in the hope that He will teach me 
what to say (Ex. iv. 10-12; Eom. i. 14, 15). I will be 
sorry to leave my ' dear barbarians,' even to come amongst 
you Greeks (I am not sure if this be a right way of speak- 
ing), but this door which once seemed to be opening wide 



164 



PROPOSED CALL TO EDINBURGH. 



is here closed again. I feel very grateful to Mr. Candlish 
and Mr. Paul for keeping me so long in remembrance. 
Say to Mr. Candlish that if appointed I will accept. Who 
all are the patrons ? 

" Write to me as soon as the matter is decided. If I 
am to enter on snch an important charge I would like two 
or three months of preparation, and would therefore come 
home immediately. I will forbear to say more at present. 
Though a whirligig of schemes is ready to come racing 
into my mind, and though I feel relieved and thankful, 
the very date of this letter reminds me to join trembling 
with my mirth. It was on the 24th of October two years 
ago that I got a presentation to Morningside. But if on 
this day the Lord should turn our captivity (and in some 
respects this has been a place of exile), then it will be as 
it was with the sinful Jews in the year of their release 
(Zech. viii. 19). -You must not tell Mr. Candlish that I 
have an eye on his Sabbath-school Bishop for the see of 
Boxburgh. 

"Abernyte, Nov. 18, 1840. 

"My dear Jane,— Tell Willie that I will be glad to 
preach in Boxburgh church on Sabbath afternoon. I 
will not encounter the whole day ; I will be too jumbled 
and tired for that. 

" I have been seeing my dear people to-day. I bor- 
rowed Mr. Bitchie's pony that I might go over the ground 
more cleverly. Few shook hands without tears in their 
eyes, and some wept bitterly. This people's love is very 
strong. With some it is a sanctified affection. 

" I packed my books yesterday. Andrew Melville 



FAREWELL TO ABERNYTE. 



165 



volunteered to put on the lids and pack the chest of 
drawers. John Miller from Ballindean came with a cart 
this morning at five, and he and Andrew carried out the 
boxes as quiet as pussy, so that I did not awake to see if 
all was right, but have no doubt that things would be 
properly done. If the packages get away by to-day's 
steamer you should have them by to-morrow. 

" As I will have two or three different packages by the 
coach, it may be as well for Willie or Andrew to meet me 
at the Coburg coach-office with a noddy. In this way I 
will make my entry in state, and at the same cost as if I 
had employed a porter. 

"And this is my last letter from Abernyte. A few 
things have occasionally tempted me to impatience, but 
goodness and mercy have surely followed me. God has 
» given me wonderful favour with the congregation, and 
with most of the parishioners, and now I know that I 
have not laboured in vain, and that is enough. "We ended 
last Sabbath with the twenty-third psalm, and it is the 
best ending of my correspondence from this place." 

"Abernyte, Nov. 13, 1840. 
" My dear Uncle, — It is even so. He who has fore- 
appointed the times has fixed the bounds of my future 
habitation in Edinburgh. It is my great joy to know that 
He has done it. The door in this place was shut (as per- 
haps you saw in the proceedings of Dundee Presbytery in 
the Witness of Oct. 31st) on a Friday, and next morning 
it opened in Edinburgh, for that morning I got a letter 
asking if I would accept Eoxburgh church in the event of 



166 



ANTICIPATION OF A NEW SPHEEE. 



a presentation. The choice by the ministers and mana- 
gers was unanimous, and quite unsolicited by me. The 
charge is sufficiently arduous. The parish and congrega- 
tion are both to be formed. It is a part of the town 
where there are many other churches. But believing it 
to be the call of God, I am not greatly afraid. There is 
one agreeable circumstance. Though a Voluntary church, 
it is free of debt. I will re-enter my mother's house, and 
be a member of that Presbytery which contains most of 
my friends in the ministry. But I must no longer hope 
for the studious leisure and moderate toil of this seques- 
tered place. 

" God has been working in this place. There are some 
beautiful instances of transforming grace, and many in- 
quirers. Yesterday I had visits from thirteen people 
wishing to converse with me. The greater part of them 
give Scriptural evidence of being created anew, and in 
most places all of them would pass for very good Chris- 
tians. In Edinburgh they have a different standard of 
vital godliness. They love the world, and yet are the 
friends of God. Still there are some eminent saints in 
Edinburgh." 



CHAPTEE IV. 



MINISTRY IN EDINBURGH, AND REMOVAL TO LONDON. 

Roxburgh Church, situated in the south-eastern quarter 
of Edinburgh, in the heart of a densely peopled district, 
had been occupied by an able and worthy minister, Mr. 
Johnstone, in connexion with a section of Nonconforming 
Presbyterians. 

Owing to some peculiarities in the tenure of the church 
or the sentiments of the congregation, no successor was 
appointed at the demise of Mr. Johnstone, and the con- 
tinuity of the congregational life was not maintained. 

After a period of collapse an arrangement was made by 
which the chapel, free of debt, with some remnants of the 
former congregation still adhering to it, should be attached 
to the Established Church, and placed under the imme- 
diate care of certain members of the Presbytery of Edin- 
burgh. The attention of the trustees, as soon as they 
were ready to nominate 1 a minister, was directed to Mr. 
Hamilton. As their invitation providentially coincided 

1 In the Presbyterian churches that are free, the uniform rule is that a 
minister is chosen by the congregation ; but in cases like this, where there is 
not an organized congregation, the first appointment is made by the trustees 
or promoters. 



168 ORDINATION IN ROXBURGH CHURCH 

in point of time with the shutting of his door at Abernyte, 
the preliminaries were soon arranged, and he was ordained 
as minister of Eoxburgh church by the Presbytery of 
Edinburgh on the 2 1 st of Janu ary 1 8 4 1 . The only record 
of this event which I find among his own papers is a 
single line in a calendar of daily occupations opposite 
the date, Sabbath, 24th January : — " Introduced by Mr. 
Candlish ; church crowded." 

After the novelty of the first day had passed, the con- 
gregation, as a matter of course in the circumstances, was 
very small; but soon after, hopeful symptoms began to 
appear. A distinguished professor of the medical faculty 
in the University, Mr. Spence, who was himself at that 
period a frequent worshipper in Eoxburgh church, has 
informed me that Hamilton's ministrations had begun to 
be appreciated, and were already attracting discriminating 
listeners from distant parts of the city, when they were 
suddenly brought to a close. He was only five months 
in this charge, and during the latter two of these it was 
known that he was about to be removed. In these cir- 
cumstances it is obvious that whatever talents he might 
possess or lack for acquiring an influential position in 
Edinburgh, the trial was never made. Another sphere 
was provided for him, and another course providentially 
marked out. Of date 25th April 1841 a jotting occurs : — 
" Communion Sabbath ; 148 communicants. A refreshful 
day to all the serious people to whom I spoke. Eears 
mercifully disappointed. Mr. Arnot and Mr. Sommerville 
on East-day. Mr. Proudfoot on Sabbath. Mr. Pollock on 
Monday. 30th May, admitted three elders." 



BY THE PRESBYTERY OF EDINBURGH. 169 



" Edinburgh, Feb. 2, 1841. 

" My dear Uncle, — After having met my new congre- 
gation on two Sabbaths and at one prayer-meeting, I may 
venture to say that I like them well, and hope for much 
enjoyment among them. The church has been well 
attended hitherto, but I cannot expect people who are 
already attending able and edifying ministers to give rip 
their present places of worship and come to me. My 
hearers are still, as lawyers say, fieri. They are latent in 
the closes and lanes all round. I wish I had strength to 
go after them. 

" The Presbytery were very kind on this occasion. 1 
believe so great a number had never been present at an 
ordination before. I did not value this token of regard 
the less that with many it proceeded from respect to my 
father's memory. Last Wednesday I attended a meeting 
of Presbytery. It is an interesting consideration to feel 
one's-self a member of the most venerable Presbytery in 
the Kirk. John Knox's Presbytery — Dr. Erskine's, Sir 
Harry's, Dr. Andrew Thomson's Presbytery. 

" And what are you saying to our position now ? It is 
long since you feared that it would end in the overthrow 
of the Scottish Establishment. The most sanguine have 
now their fears. If the Lord turn this captivity, we will 
be as men that dream." 

Two letters written by Mr. Hamilton at subsequent 
dates from London may be most conveniently introduced 
here, as they refer exclusively to his brief pastorate in 
Edinburgh, and throw an interesting light on the charac- 



170 CORRESPONDENCE WITH MEMBERS 



ter of the relations which subsisted between him and his 
little flock there. 

The assembly of ministers, usually called the Convoca- 
tion, at which the Disruption was irrevocably determined, 
held its sittings in Koxburgh chapel in November 1842. 
Mr. Hamilton came from London to attend the meeting, 
and preached in the chapel on the Sabbath that occurred 
in the course of the sittings. On that occasion he was a 
guest in the family of Mr. Johnstone, his predecessor, who 
had been members of his congregation. Soon after his 
return an intimation of the death of Mrs. Johnstone's 
sister followed him to London. The first letter is written 
in reply to this intimation : — 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, London, 
Dec. 1, 1842. 

" My dear Mrs. Johnstone, — Who can tell what a day 
may bring forth ! There have been few breaches in our 
congregation since I came, but within this week two aged 
members have died. I was much struck when, on Sab- 
bath, I was told of the death of Mr. Eobert Johnstone's 
brother, who was ill before I left Edinburgh. But I little 
thought that so solemn an admonition was to be added to 
all these warnings as that which came in Miss Johnstone's 
letter yesterday morning ; for to me it is a solemn ad- 
monition, and seems to lessen the space between me and 
the grave's mouth, to think that almost the last hand I 
should have shaken that morning before leaving Edin- 
burgh is cold in death already. And a kind and gentle 
hand it was. 

" But I do not sorrow for Miss Home. It is well with 
her. Whilst yet she saw Him not she loved the Lord 



OF ROXBURGH CONGREGATION. 171 



Jesus ; and just as Christ was precious to her, so I am 
persuaded she was precious to Him. Her tender feelings 
and strong affection, and quiet fireside dispositions, will 
make her be long missed in the lessening circle; but 
every principle and affection which the Spirit of God 
implanted here will get abundant and eternal scope where 
she now is. The sorrow was all on this side. It was no 
sorrow to leave the body of sin and death, or to find that 
she was no longer in the vale of tears. And just as the 
Lord Jesus has taken away the sting of death, so in her 
case He took away the bitterness of dying. The fetters 
were softly broken. Miss Charlotte will remember what 
we were speaking of on our way home from Lady Glen- 
orchy's that Sabbath evening. The night has come. It 
is with a tender satisfaction, and with more solemn feel- 
ings, that I think that her last Sabbath in this life should 
have been a Sabbath in the sanctuary (a day truly spent 
in the courts of God's house), and the Sabbath when I 
preached ; and I am thankful that it was made a day of 
refreshing to her soul. She then wished ' to follow the 
Lord fully,' and I know she has her wish, for she is fol- 
lowing the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. 

" I thought of writing a few lines to say that I got safely 
home, and to thank you for all the great kindness you 
bestowed on me during my sojourn with you. That visit 
I shall now remember with deepened interest, because of 
what has happened since. The Lord the Spirit impress it 
on us all, that we may work while it is day ! With our 
united affectionate remembrance and sympathy, I remain, 
my dear Mrs. Johnstone, ever yours most truly, 

" James Hamilton." 



172 



LATER MEMORIALS 



The next is addressed to Mrs. Johnstone's daughter, 
wife of the Free Church minister of Maxwellton, Dum- 
fries, in reply to an intimation of her mother's death : — 

"48 Euston Square, London - , 
Jan. 28, 1864. 

" Dear Mrs. Purves, — It was not without emotion that 
I received the intimation so kindly and thoughtfully for- 
warded to me. It sent back my thoughts to that pleasant 
sanctuary, so much more identified with your father than 
it was ever to be with any one else, and to quiet evenings 
in Buccleuch Place, when your mother and my own did 
not seem so very old, and when your good and gentle aunt 
was still alive, and when you still had a sister, and I too 
had one. Now all except ourselves have gone into the 
holy place, and joined the white-robed company, where 
our hope and prayer are that, through the same grace, we 
ourselves may join them. Truly that alone is life which is 
lived within the veil : on this side it seems like a dream. 

" It was your great happiness and hers that your dear 
mother spent her closing days under your roof. Prom 
under that roof all the more prayer has therefore ascended, 
— prayer that will be abundantly answered to those who 
still are its inmates. 

" I hope you and Mr. Purves will some day visit London. 
I should like to show you our children, five of them, the 
oldest as tall as yourself. — With kind regards to Mr. 
Purves, believe me, yours most truly, 

" James Hamilton." 

As an appropriate conclusion to these tender memorials 



OF HIS MINISTRY IN EDINBURGH. 



173 



of his ministry in Edinburgh, it may not be out of place 
to submit the following letter, addressed to him, in 1860, 
by a young person whom he had baptized there. It will 
tell its own tale : happy the minister who receives such 
simple and hearty testimony regarding his work in any 
sphere twenty years after he left it : — 

"Edinburgh, December 3, 1860. 
" Deae and Eev. Sie, — My grandmother desires me to 
write you these few lines, hoping you will not think me 
too bold in doing so. Perhaps you will remember us when 
I try to tell you something about us. Perhaps you will 
yet remember Mr. and Mrs. Todd who lived in W. Adam 
Street, and whom you used to visit frequently. They 
attended your church in Eoxburgh Place, and they enjoyed 
your company very much when you visited them. My 
grandfather has now gone the way of all the earth. Many 
a time he used to speak about you. And now that my 
grandmother is left all alone, she seems to think more of 
the past. Last night, being Sabbath, she was telling me 
pieces of sermons you used to preach, so you may take 
encouragement from that ; for it seems that both of them 
did derive much benefit from your ministrations while you 
were with them. My grandfather was seventy-eight years 
of age when he departed from this vale of tears, and we 
have the good hope, through grace, that he is now in glory. 
My grandmother is seventy-four years of age, and one 
cannot think that she will be long among us here. She 
has a longing desire to hear you preach, and perhaps that 
may never be, yet we may hope that you will yet be in 
Edinburgh, and if spared she may yet hear you. If you 



174 



HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE 



have not the prospect of being here, would yon be kind 
enough to drop a few lines, as it would cheer her much by 
the way. You will not take it amiss, I hope, when I take 
the liberty of asking you. My grandmother being up in 
years now, I like to try and please her in all things as far 
as I possibly can, so therefore I hope you will excuse the 
liberty which I have taken at this time. — I remain, your 
very affectionate, Janet Hamilton." 

"9 West Adam Street, Edinburgh." 

As the National Scotch Church, Eegent Square, London, 
comes here into the foreground of our narrative, it is neces- 
sary to take some note of its origin and early history. 

A chapel in Cross Street, Hatton Garden, was acquired 
from the Swedenborgians by a Gaelic Society, with the 
view of establishing a service in that language, according 
to the forms of the Church of Scotland. It was subse- 
quently made over to the Caledonian Asylum upon 
certain conditions, one of which was that the minister 
should be always ready to preach in Gaelic when re- 
quired; and on the 18th of June 1818 the Eev. James 
Boyd was ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh as 
the first minister of the " Caledonian Church." 

Mr. Boyd proved an acceptable and effective preacher, 
and under his care the congregation made most satisfac- 
tory progress. In those days, however, even to a greater 
extent than at present, England was considered a land of 
exile for ministers of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. 
Boyd soon accepted a presentation to the parish of Auch- 
inleck, in Ayrshire, whence he was translated first to 



NATIONAL SCOTCH CHURCH, LONDON. 175 

Ochiltree, and subsequently, in 1843, to the Tron Church 
in Glasgow, where he continued to minister till his death. 

The next incumbent of the Caledonian was Mr. A. 
M'Naughton. Disheartened by the decrease of the con- 
gregation, he, too, returned to Scotland, becoming minister 
successively in Campbelton, Arran, and Lesmahagow in 
Lanarkshire. 

Hitherto the Directors of the Caledonian Asylum had 
been disappointed in their expectation of deriving a 
revenue from their adopted church. On this occasion, 
therefore, they directed special attention to that subject in 
their inquiries after a pastor. Whatever other good quali- 
ties their next minister might possess, it was essential that 
he should be an attractive preacher, for the church must 
be filled : " Money must be obtained to feed and clothe the 
orphans, and we must, if possible, get high seat-rents." In 
this matter these benevolent gentlemen succeeded to their 
hearts' desire, and far beyond their expectations. They 
fixed their eyes on Edward Irving, then acting as assistant 
to Dr. Chalmers in Glasgow. They invited him to preach 
in the church ; and, with more penetration than had yet 
been exhibited in Scotland, instantly perceived that he was 
their man. As parties on both sides were willing, the 
negotiations soon reached a favourable issue. Even the 
formidable condition of being ' always ready at call to 
preach a Gaelic sermon proved no barrier in the way of 
the stalwart son of the Solway, who had never heard a 
Gaelic word pronounced in his life. He would reside six 
months in the Highlands, and on his return would charm 
the Celts of London with the bewitching accents of their 



176 



EDWARD IRVING. 



native hills. This characteristically chivalrous offer, how- 
ever, it was not found necessary to accept, as the parties 
wisely consented to cancel the embarrassing condition. 
Ordained in Scotland by the Presbytery of Annan, Irving 
was inducted into his charge by the Presbytery of London, 
on the 16th of October 1822. The city was soon filled 
with the fame of the mighty Scotchman. His eloquence, 
his earnestness, arid his commanding presence combined 
to attract a crowd, and to rivet the attention of the wor- 
shippers. A fire in his eye, and a prophetic -like dignity 
in his whole manner, made people hold in their breath 
while he spoke. The church became inconveniently 
crowded. The ordinary congregation could not find their 
places. Persons of the highest social rank were drawn to 
the spot along with the multitude. Eoyal Dukes did not 
disdain to occupy a pew in the Presbyterian meeting- 
house. As many as thirty-five carriages, with coronets, 
besides those of commoners, were counted at the door one 
Sabbath morning. 

The directors had obtained what they wished, and 
more. They were now embarrassed with their own riches. 
The place was too strait for them, and it became neces- 
sary to take measures for obtaining a more capacious 
structure. A committee was formed, subscription lists 
were opened, a suitable site obtained, and on the 1st 
July 1824 the foundation-stone of the National Scotch 
Church was laid in Eegent Square. So highly honoured, 
or so ambitious had the Kirk in London at that time be- 
come, that his Eoyal Highness the Duke of Clarence, 
afterwards King William IV., had consented to preside at 



IN REGENT SQUARE CHURCH. 



177 



the ceremony, and the documents enclosed in the founda- 
tion actually bear that it was laid by him ; but when the 
time arrived the Prince failed through indisposition, and 
the function was discharged, perhaps more appropriately, 
by a genuine Presbyterian, the Earl of Breadalbane. Some 
delay occurred ere the work could be got fairly under 
weigh, and the church, which cost, including the site, up- 
wards of £21,000, was not completed till May 1827. On 
the 11th of that month it was formally opened by Dr. 
Chalmers. Dr. Gordon of Edinburgh occupied the pulpit 
on the succeeding Sabbath, and thereafter the ministra- 
tions were conducted by Mr. Irving. 

The new church, being very spacious, was never incon- 
veniently crowded ; but during the whole of Mr. Irving's 
pastorate the audience continued to be both numerous 
and distinguished. Besides the ministrations of the 
Sabbath, his week-day lectures on prophecy, especially 
at the period when controversy regarding Catholic Eman- 
cipation was running high, attracted very great attention 
in the metropolis. 1 

When a body at once weighty and tall moves forward 
with great rapidity, its momentum becomes dangerous to 
itself and its neighbours. As long as the motion proceeds 
in a perfectly straight line, a catastrophe may be avoided ; 
but if the engine cannot be slowed when it is about to 
take a curve, it behoves all who are interested to look 
out. Something will probably happen. And about the 

1 These facts have been obtained from an address by Alexander Gillespie, Esq., 
then a member, and at this day an honoured and beloved elder, of the National 
Scotch Church, Regent Square, printed in one of the Annual Congregational 
Reports. 

M 



178 



EDWAKD IRVING 



year 1830 something did happen to the ardent and 
eloquent minister of the Scotch National Church. Im- 
pelled by the fire of his own spirit within, and drawn b>y 
the plaudits of an admiring multitude without, Mr. Irving's 
momentum became too great. He could not stop ; he 
could not even slow. From expounding prophecy, he 
allowed himself to be drawn on almost to the point of 
prophesying on his own account. The machine became 
overheated by the rapidity of its own motion, and went 
plunging and hissing forward, defying drags and drivers. 
Satellites, as generally happens when really great stars 
go wandering, began to cluster round the chief, burning 
more fiercely than himself, and diverging further from 
the normal orbit of sober, commonplace worlds." It is 
not expedient to examine and develop here the doctrinal 
aberrations which the Presbytery, in the exercise of their 
duty, charged against Mr. Irving. The events have long 
since passed away ; and such parts of them as still linger 
in life amongst us, have gone far ahead of their own 
beginnings. Not of purpose prepense was • Edward Irving 
a heretic : the heresies were perhaps not a proper brood 
of the intellect at all. They seem to have been a sort of 
spontaneous generation favoured by immense fervour of 
spirit, and immense velocity of motion. But, however 
generated, when they did reach the region of the intellect, 
they were owned and held, and not recanted. Then the 
issue became inevitable, for the accused was a Presby- 
terian. There is sense in the head of the Presbyterian 
system, and a bone in its sleeve. What it professes it 
practises ; what it begins it goes through with. Not to 



DEPOSED BY HIS PKESBYTEBY. 



179 



speak of the higher affairs of Scriptural order, it under- 
stands the first principles of self-preservation. It will not 
permit a member of the body to defy the authority of the 
head. It looks with sorrowful pity on a church, how great 
and venerable soever, that lacks the will or the power to 
sever a member who denies its doctrines, and yet eats its 
bread. The Presbyterian Church, at all events, under the 
softening influences of modern Christian thought, is slow 
to note a stumble ; it would rather wink at an eccentri- 
city or two, in the hope of spontaneous recovery; but 
when it does arise to judgment, it carries out its own 
rules without fear or favour. If the safety of the body 
does demand the severance of a diseased member, this 
surgeon will not sicken at the sight of blood. The health 
of the Church has in this generation often been greatly 
promoted by the firmness of its discipline. 

In the beginning of May 1832, Mr. Irving was excluded 
from the National Church by the sentence of his superiors. 
What followed with him personally, we are not bound 
to narrate here. With a tender sorrow we follow the 
memory of a great and good man. Flung by wayward 
impulses, which he counted heavenly inspirations, from a 
solid position of usefulness, he never afterwards was able 
to get a firm influential stand-point. Broken in health, 
and separated from the friends of his youth, who still 
loved and revered him, he soon dropt out of the front rank, 
and was early taken away from the evil to come. 

When it escaped from his hands, the movement which 
his force first generated became wayward enough • and 
now it marches, and bends and burns candles with as 



180 



EDWARD IRVING 



much childish earnestness as any of its neighbour ritual- 
ists, whether Anglican or Eomish. 

The rise and fall of Edward Irving, briefly sketched by 
Dr. Hamilton at a later date, will find here its most appro- 
priate place. 1 

" Towards this hot and hazy capital was tending, during 
the dog-days of 1822, a genial and magnificent spirit, such 
as is rarely found amongst the sons of men. No mere 
spirit, however; for the eye was met by a splendid 
colossus, which towered head and shoulders above Cock- 
aigne. He was a preacher. He regarded himself as a 
messenger from the living God to dying but immortal 
men; and there was nothing which any preacher had 
ever been — Luther, Chrysostom, the Baptist — but, in the 
name of his God, he believed that he might venture, and, 
with the help of his God, repeat. With a great forthgoing 
towards the common people, he did not despair of standing 
before kings ; and he liked to entertain, as a possible 
consummation, the prospect of martyrdom. Loyal to God, 
he was impatient at the scanty justice which the truths of 
God — all save some two or three — receive at the hands of 
the modern ministry ; and reverential towards the past, 
his contemplation of Christianity as it existed in his 
Albigensian and covenanting forefathers, made him dis- 
dainful of the cozy, self- coddling ways of modern profes- 
sorship. It is a great thing to have life, and to have it 
more abundantly. Superior insight makes a cold nature 
cynical ; it only made Edward Irving an idealist. With a 
physical overflow, which in its prodigal excess courted toil 

1 Evangelical Christendom, March 1866. 



SKETCHED BY DR. HAMILTON. 181 



and feared no exhaustion, he had a heart which held the 
whole of London. Accepting the call of his fifty Cale- 
donians as an invitation from the united million, on a 
high spring-tide of hope and gratitude he flowed in upon 
the capital, and, in proud consciousness of the wealth 
which could enrich it, at once began to unlade his argosy. 
It did not matter that London was out of town, or that 
Hatton Garden was a name unknown in the haunts of 
fashion ; He who had given him his talents and his com- 
mission, had also given him an open letter of introduc- 
tion to all mankind, and confident in their goodwill, and 
assuming their actual presence, he instantly began. 

" Before going southwards he had mentioned to a friend 
his great desire ' to make a demonstration for a higher 
style of Christianity, something more magnanimous, more 
heroical than this age affects.' 1 The purpose was in keep- 
ing not only with his exalted conception of the Christian 
character, but with the grandeur of his own spirit ; and 
with a little more practical wisdom the effect, which was 
for the moment unprecedented, might have endured to 
this day. By bringing out the fulness of the boundless, 
all-embracing Bible, and by carrying hearers who had 
hitherto rested in texts right into the truths which these 
texts contain, he relieved evangelism from the reproach of 
intellectual poverty, and whilst extorting from many 
minds their first homage to the Gospel, he made others 
feel as if under his leadership they could start afresh and 
go on to perfection. And he himself went grandly. 
Living in the presence of the King of kings, and never 

1 His letter to Dr. Martin, quoted in Mrs. Oliphant's Life, vol. i. p. 141. 



182 



irving's early greatness 



for a moment forgetting his high calling, his bearing was 
august, and from before the steps of his straightforward 
faith mountains and sycamine trees were removed. And 
whilst walking with God thus loftily, it was a marvellous 
fund of loving-kindness which he carried forth among his 
fellow-men. Taking the little children in his arms, and 
blessing them as no one had ever done since his Master 
said, ' Let them come unto me ; ' casting the spell of his 
own transcendentalism over commonplace people, and 
Leaving them thenceforward on a higher leveL 

" Looking to the gifted men who crowded to his church, 
and who from his profuse, suggestive sermons received 
new germs of thought, as from his valiant, outspoken 
faith they derived new impressions of divine realities, for 
the first three or four years it was an unprecedented min- 
istry. At last, yielding partly to his own excursive in- 
stincts, partly to the temptation to tell some new thing to 
an excited throng, who returned Sunday after Sunday 
expecting a new sensation, historical themes, like John the 
Baptist, were exchanged for prophecy, and speculations 
regarding the source of the Saviour's sinlessness, such as 
racked Oriental ingenuity in the early ages, took the place 
of the lively oracles. The higher that the speculation 
soared, and the further behind that it left the personal and 
the practical, the better it suited that class of hearers who 
think nothing so tiresome as the Sermon on the Mount 
and the Ten Commandments ; and the wilder that it 
grew, the more it was enjoyed by those devotees who 
mistake for pious feeling a sort of spiritual galvanism. 
Such persons now became Irving's inner circle. They 



AND SUBSEQUENT FALL. 



183 



closed around him, and appropriated him ; they shut out 
friends who were not the less affectionate because they 
were sober-minded ; and surrounded by a coterie of char- 
latans and moonshiny mystics, visionary men and hysteri- 
cal women, who domineered and flattered by turns, nothing 
remained but to drift helplessly on in the dizzy, imperious 
vortex. The buoy which good sense flung in to his rescue 
he hurled back with disdain, and when, with the tear in 
its eye, ancient friendship held out its hand, the offer was 
tearfully declined. Sermons were preached on the restora- 
tion to the church of miraculous gifts, and weird prayer- 
meetings were held in the dark cold mornings, followed by 
strange colloquies and expoundings throughout the day; 
till the natural upshot was that outburst of f tongues ' 
which, in the words of Carlyle, brought 'Bedlam and 
chaos ' into the new church in Eegent Square. 

" The humiliating, heart-breaking sequel we need not 
trace. The dupe of his own imagination, still more the 
victim of misplaced affection — for all along much of his 
creed had been absorbed into the system through the fancy 
and through his cordial, admiring tendencies — the idealist 
had become the simple visionary. Up the sides of the 
gallant ship there swarmed a motley crowd; old and 
loyal friends were sent ashore ; and all landmarks lost, 
all autonomy completely gone, enthusiasts in their folly 
and coxcombs in their arrogance took the helm by turns, 
till the shattered hull was drawn ashore, and the mournful 
voyage ended where ' the wicked cease from troubling, and 
the weary are at rest.' " 

Our business lies with the English Presbyterian Church 



184 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION. 

in general, and with the National Scotch Church of London, 
in particular ; to it accordingly we return. 

At the termination of Mr. Irving's connexion with the 
church, the congregation found themselves reduced to a 
handful, and burdened with a debt of £10,000. So far 
from succumbing to their difficulties, however, they deter- 
mined to obtain relays of eminent ministers from Scotland 
to supply the pulpit, and in the meantime to reduce, by 
one-half, their pecuniary liability. In both efforts they 
completely succeeded. The debt was reduced by subscrip- 
tions to £5000, and the diminished burden was then 
cheerfully sustained. By obtaining supplies in succession 
from Scotland, the congregation enjoyed for a time such a 
variety of gifts as compensated in some measure for the 
want of a settled ministry. 

After a protracted vacancy, Mr. Peter M'Morland was 
ordained pastor of the church on the 17th of April 1835. 
During his ministry the congregation was largely increased 
in numbers, but he too, after serving about four years, 
retired to a charge in Scotland, and left the much-tried 
congregation once more as a flock without a shepherd. 

During the whole of this sifting period, a band of leal- 
hearted and devoted men held office in the National 
Church. By their high character, and mutual love, and 
patient energy, they steered the vessel through all the 
storms. Holding by faith to the Head, and by love to 
one another, they never lost hope, and never slackened 
their exertions, until, by God's good hand upon them, a 
day of prosperity returned. In their case, as in the ex- 
perience of many others, man's extremity was God's 
opportunity. It is ordinarily "out of the depths" that 



ME. HAMILTON SUGGESTED AS MINISTER. 



185 



the keenest cries ascend to the throne of Grace ; and, in 
answer to the request of those who saw no help in man, 
the Lord did at length send a qualified labourer into that 
portion of his harvest-field 

In the spring of 1841, a deputation from the Church of 
Scotland had occasion to visit London, in connexion with 
some of the great ecclesiastical questions that were then 
agitating the public mind. The elders of Eegent Square 
seized the opportunity of laying their case before the men 
who were in a position at once to comprehend the nature 
of the claim, and to surest the method of meeting it. In 
an interview with Dr. Candlish, Dr. Buchanan, Mr. Dunlop, 
and others, they explained their position, and requested 
aid. The Scottish brethren intimated on the spot that 
they had their eye on a young minister who, if he could 
be induced to accept a call, would, in their judgment, more 
than compensate for all the disappointments that the con- 
gregation had experienced. As this minister had only 
been a few months settled in his first charge, they were 
not certain of success, but they woidd do what they could 
on their return to Scotland. In the course of a few days, 
as the result of this negotiation, the elders of Eegent 
Square learned from their friends that Mr. James Hamilton, 
of Roxburgh Church, Edinburgh, had consented to come to 
London, and preach for two Sabbaths to the congregation. 

One of the sermons preached on that occasion in Eegent 
Square was subsequently published under the title " The 
Opening of the Erison." 1 I have been informed, on very 
good authority, that this discourse made the deepest im- 
pression, and largely contributed to determine the choice 

1 Morgan and Chase, 38 Lndgate Hill. 



186 "the opening of the prison. 



of the congregation. In these circumstances, it becomes 
a matter of interest and importance to look into that little 
tract as a specimen of his style at the period. It differs 
considerably from his ordinary methods in his later years. 
It is probable that it fairly represents his manner of pre- 
senting and pressing the gospel at Abernyte, and in 
Edinburgh ; and this supposition goes far to explain at 
once the deep impression made on all the more susceptible 
spirits of his flock in the country, and the opposition 
successfully made by a smaller, but more influential class, 
to his permanent settlement in the parish. The " Opening 
of the Prison " reminds the reader at once of Bunyan and 
of Baxter. The leading conceptions, from first to last, are 
allegorical, and the appeals are peculiarly solemn and 
searching. There is a plainness and pungency, amounting 
in some places almost to roughness, in applying his lesson 
to the conscience, which forms, in some measure, a contrast 
to the gentleness and delicacy which characterized his 
subsequent ministrations. 

Nothing can be more interesting in the natural history 
of the spiritual life than the study of this sermon in con- 
nexion with the date of its origin. It bears unmistakable 
marks of William Barns and Eobert M'Cheyne, and the 
revival in Dundee. It glows with the spirit ; and is more 
concerned to strike hard than to refine the sentiment. 
" On the outer door of the prison-house were not only the 
bolts and bars which Satan had put on, but there was the 
adamantine lock of eternal justice also. J ehovah himself 
had put it on. In the day that Adam sinned, Jehovah 
shut the sinner in, and justice locked the door, and flung 
the key into the ocean of the wrath of God. It sank into 



ME. HAMILTON'S EAELIEE STYLE. 



187 



the mighty waters, and before Inimanuel could open the 
brazen gates, he was seen to plunge headlong into that 
tide of wrath, and then, emerging from its abyss, he went 
right up to the gates of the devil's stronghold, and as the 
wards of that inviolable lock recognised the long-lost key, 
the bolt of justice flew back. That achievement cost 
Immanuel his life," etc., etc. Such is the conception, ex- 
pressed in bold, sharp terms, with no attempt to make the 
angles easy, which sank into our informant's ear, and 
remained written on his memory after an interval of 
nearly thirty years. 

Everything is beautiful in its place and time. It is 
rougher chiselling, and bolder features, that you expect 
from the ardent youth, fresh from the quickening converse 
of apostolic men, and the strong cries of awakened sinners ; 
in quieter and more experienced years substantially the 
same forms will emerge, with more rounded outlines, and 
mellower tints. 

Mr. Hamilton had considered the whole case, and 
substantially decided it before he agreed to this preli- 
minary experiment. He was well aware of the awkward- 
ness and inconvenience of breaking up his connexion with 
the Roxburgh congregation, when it was only a few 
months old ; but, on the other hand, he comprehended 
thoroughly the superior importance of London, and saw 
that the less ought to yield to the greater. Besides, the 
recency of his settlement in Edinburgh might tell also on 
the other side. If he should leave that sphere at all, it 
might be as well to leave it before his roots had gone deep 
into the soil. After a year or two the removal might have 
been more difficult. 



188 



SETTLEMENT IN LONDON. 



Nor can it be overlooked or denied that the metropolis 
presented to Mr. Hamilton various attractions, bearing 
both directly and indirectly on his ministerial work. His 
literary tastes, and his consciousness of power in those 
departments, contributed legitimately to the determination 
which was ultimately adopted. The happy visit paid to 
his uncle in 1838 had providentially prepared the way, by 
giving him many glimpses of insight into the mighty 
stream of life that flows through London. He was enabled 
to measure the influence which the city exercises on the 
empire and on the world ; and with an enlightened and 
patriotic ambition was willing, when an opportunity 
occurred, to contribute his own life and talents to the 
service of God and man on that field where they could 
be laid out to the greatest advantage. 

When sounded on the subject in London, at the close of 
his preliminary visit, Mr. Hamilton frankly acknowledged 
that though nothing could be finally decided at that date, 
he was prepared to consider favourably any call that 
might reach him from the congregation of Eegent Square. 
A harmonious call accordingly, with the necessary presby- 
terial formalities, was immediately sent, and in due time 
accepted. The various steps required in the case of a 
translation were taken in the usual way without any 
remarkable incident ; and after being formally inducted 
by the Presbytery of London, Mr. Hamilton was introduced 
to his new charge on Sabbath, 25th July 1841, by Dr. 
Gordon of Edinburgh, in that year Moderator of the 
General Assembly. 



CHAPTER V. 



FROM HIS SETTLEMENT IN LONDON, 1841, TO THE DISRUPTION 
OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH, 1843. 

After the date of his removal to London the narrative 
will necessarily be less minute and continuous, and this 
for two reasons, — first, "because, under the pressure of a 
more exacting public sphere, his private memorials natur- 
ally become more scanty; and, second, because the editor, 
busy with his own duties at a great distance, could not 
take particular note of facts as they occurred, and that 
lack can never be afterwards made up. There is, however, 
the less reason to regret the comparatively meagre history 
of his daily life in its maturer stages, because then it was 
a light set on a hill, and all might see it ; whereas the 
progress of his mind, and especially of his spiritual life in 
his earlier years, was little known until now that this 
memoir has revealed it. We submit further at this point, 
that perhaps the most valuable service that a biography can 
render, is to lay open the springs of a life for the benefit 
of those who have been arrested by its force in maturity ; 
as when we have navigated with profit the lower reaches 
of a great river near the sea, we desiderate an explorer 
who shall reach and reveal to us its source in the interior. 

If the record of successive events be henceforth less 



190 



HALLE Y AND HAMILTON, 



complete, notices of his many literary labours may profit- 
ably take the place of a more detailed personal history. 

After the death of James Halley a demand sprang up 
in the Christian community of Glasgow for some memoir 
of his life. The task of preparing it was by common con- 
sent assigned to Mr. Hamilton and the compiler of this 
memoir conjointly. We had only begun to form our plan 
for the distribution of the labour when he was summoned 
from Edinburgh to London. Partly on account of the 
distance rendering united action more difficult, but mainly 
because of the exacting and exhausting claims of his new 
sphere, he reluctantly withdrew from the partnership, and 
so, providentially, the honour of performing that labour 
of love fell to the remaining member of the firm. Mr. 
Hamilton, however, gladly consented to revise the proof 
sheets, and the memoir profited by his affectionate and 
sagacious suggestions. In three successive editions the 
little book served its generation ; and has now, in a figure, 
fallen asleep in as far as the publishers' lists are concerned, 
but it has not yet faded from the memory of those sur- 
vivors who shared the friendship or admired the learning 
of that extraordinary young man. 

Of those three students who met in the dingy quad- 
rangle of Glasgow College, about forty years ago, and 
enjoyed for several seasons there a tender and hallowed 
brotherhood both in the prosecution of human science and 
the exercise of the spiritual life, the sole survivor has been 
led through a noteworthy and solemnizing experience. 
He was the oldest of the three, and yet it has been his 
singular lot to begin his own literary life-work by compos- 



ONE TAKEN AND THE OTHER LEFT. 191 



ing the memoir of one of his friends, and to close it by 
composing the memoir of the other. His hand is steady 
as he traces these lines, and his eye clear; he stands in 
awe as the question rises, Wherefore has he been spared ? 
The ripe have been taken, and that same Sun of Eighteous- 
ness who made them mellow early, is able also to fill and 
sweeten in His own time those survivors who even unto 
old age retain much of the greenness and acidity that 
belongs to a too close rooting into the earth. 

These two have entered within the veil ; a quarter of a 
century intervened between the dates of their departure. 
Halley was the greater, both in learning and sheer power of 
intellect ; but Hamilton excelled in feminine tenderness of 
spirit, and the imaginative or analogical faculty which lies 
at the foundation of all poetry. Both alike were recon- 
ciled unto God through the death of His Son, and ardently 
devoted to the service of the Lord that bought them. One 
was called "up higher" ere his ministry began; the other 
was promoted to the general assembly of the first-born 
that are written in heaven, after a public ministry of more 
than a quarter of a century. Both understand the matter 
now, and sing in concert, " He hath done all things well." 

James Halley, himself at once a great scholar and a 
sound judge of character, said of his friend Hamilton, 
while both were students at Glasgow, that he was peculi- 
arly qualified, and therefore probably destined, to serve 
the Church with his pen. This estimate the result has 
proved to be just. From a very early age he had been 
constantly exercising, and so improving, his gift. He 
was yet a slender boy when he wrote biographies, and 



192 



LITERARY WORK — TRACTS. 



offered them to the Religious Tract Society. About the 
same period, in college vacations, he was wont to deliver 
lectures on chemistry and kindred subjects to his father's 
parishioners at Strathblane. The memoir of his father, 
although in his maturer years he desired to revise and 
amend it, was creditable to his courage and skill, as well 
as to his filial reverence. During the later years of his 
course at college, especially in Edinburgh, he wrote much 
for the press, and wrote well. In biography, criticism, 
and the discussion of the questions between Church and 
State that were then agitated, he had obtained a good 
degree. But it was in that middle sphere where science 
comes in contact with theology that he found his most 
congenial occupation. 

Settled as the minister of a Christian congregation in 
London, he now found himself precisely in the sphere best 
fitted for the effective outlay of the talent intrusted to his 
care. Although pastoral work was heavy and exacting, it 
did not absorb all his energies. Literary effort, indeed, 
was with him an irrepressible instinct. He was too in- 
telligent and faithful a servant to hide in the ground a 
specific talent given to him by his Lord. 

The first product of his pen in London was in its theme 
and method eminently characteristic. It was a tract 
entitled " The Church in the House," and had for its 
object to recommend the observance of family worship. 
In style and manner, as well as in substance, it presents 
at once the strongly marked icliosyncracies of the man. 

As a writer of religious tracts he adopted at first, and 
maintained ever afterwards, a well defined and original style. 



THEIR PECULIAR STYLE. 



193 



It was all his own ; not so much, that he constructed it, 
as that it flowed naturally from the character of his mind. 

The series of tracts which began with " The Church in 
the House" would have made his name dear to the Church of 
Christ, although he had done nothing in other departments. 
Each several tract exerted a power at the time, and has 
left its mark on the religious history of the period. These 
messengers, as they successively appeared, attracted much 
attention, and provoked much criticism. Ecclesiastical 
red tape was rudely shaken, and much scandalized. The 
tracts of this new adventurer did not march rank and file 
like so many soldiers. They did not keep step, and knew 
nothing of the regulations. They dared to seize plain 
facts and set them forth in a homely, piquant style, and 
altogether natural order. But the greatest shock was 
given by a certain vein of humour that could be detected 
here and there under the surface, and occasionally might 
even be seen boldly cropping out. Sometimes the reader 
was beguiled into a smile ere he knew what he was about ; 
but, in all probability, ere he turned the page his eyes 
were moistened by a tear. These tracts did not let a man 
alone ; they grasped him without asking his leave, and 
shook him about from side to side until they shook the 
indifference out of him. A tract with hills and dales in 
it, like a landscape of nature, is, in one respect at least, 
better than those that maintain the dead level — people 
buy it and read it. It does not cost so much to get it cir- 
culated, and it is not so apt to be laid on the shelf. 

" The Church in the House" was eminently useful "We 
know of cases in the country where the distribution of it 

N 



194 



FAMILY WORSHIP. 



was followed by a great increase of family worship. Its 
peculiar power lay in the happy skill with which it relieved 
the exercise of its formidable character, and gently intro- 
duced it as a pleasure and a privilege. Without diminish- 
ing in aught the solemnity of divine worship, as conducted 
in the family circle, he did much to remove the stiffness 
and austerity with which, especially in Scotland, it had 
become too much associated. It was his blessed function, 
on this and many other kindred themes, to throw in the 
glow of his own more blithe and buoyant hopefulness to 
help inexperienced and timid spirits, who somehow fell 
into the error of supposing that they could not be rightly 
religious without being and appearing frightened and sad. 
He had largely learned in his own experience the scriptural 
principle, that "the joy of the Lord is your strength;" and 
he most lovingly laid himself out to teach the precious 
secret to others. It is a high honour to have won many 
families over to the practice of private social worship, by 
showing them that the commandment of God in that 
matter " is not grievous." 

As there were " Eeformers before the Eeformation," so 
there were earnest unionists among the churches before 
the Evangelical Alliance was formed. It was according to 
the nature of things that James Hamilton should gravitate 
towards any nucleus that might be in the process of for- 
mation with a view to the increase of brotherly love 
among Protestant Christians, and a more distinct manifes- 
tation of the love that might already have been attained. 
It so happens that the earliest of his letters, after the date 
of his removal to London, that has fallen into our hands 



UNION OF CHRISTIANS. 



195 



refers to this subject. It is addressed to his beloved and 
venerated friend Mr. William Hamilton, who evidently 
had asked his opinion on some points bearing on the 
question of union in spirit and co-operation in effort among 
the disciples of the Lord. His views at this early stage 
are important, in relation to the distinguished services 
which he afterwards rendered to the cause of Christian 
union. 

Let it be borne in mind that this is not a public mani- 
festo, but a private letter to a friend who held office along 
with himself in a Presbyterian Church. It is natural in 
these circumstances that he should express fully his pre- 
ference for Presbytery, and the grounds of his judgment. 
But failing what he considers best, he is ready to labour 
a lifetime for what may be attainable in the direction of 
union. 

" My views are these : — 

" I. The Lord Jesus lives. He is of the same mind as 
when He prayed ' that they all may be one, — that the 
world may know that Thou hast sent me.' It is the duty, 
therefore, of His disciples to seek union, the duty of indi- 
vidual Christians and of Evangelical Churches to maintain 
a friendly correspondence. If such correspondence be 
begun and conducted with purity of motive and warmth of 
affection, it cannot but lead to increasing mutual respect 
and increasing congeniality, i.e., union. 

" II. The most scriptural form of church government is 
likely to be the most efficient in extending and upholding 
the kingdom of Christ. I am deeply persuaded that the 
Presbyterian is the most scriptural form, and that could 



196 PRESBYTERIANISM IN ENGLAND. 



we get it more largely adopted we should do much to 
advance trie cause of Christ. 

" III. From a variety of causes the Presbyterian is the 
most unpopular denomination in England ; in other words, 
the most efficient agency for spreading the gospel is the 
agency of which English Christians are most jealous. The 
only form of government capable of offering effectual and 
combined resistance to popish encroachments is that form 
which Protestant Europe has adopted, but which in Eng- 
land is monopolized by a handful of Scotchmen. 

" IV. Did Presbyterian Christians cultivate the friend- 
ship of orthodox denominations, and invite them to study 
the constitution and workings of Presbytery, I am certain 
much prejudice would be removed and a highway opened 
for the advance of Presbyterianism. 

" Y. That even did we fail in prevailing on them to join 
our Synod, or assume to themselves a presbyteric name, if 
they were supremely bent on advancing vital godliness 
and spiritual Christianity through this and other lands, it 
were our duty to maintain brotherly intercourse with them, 
and to unite openly from time to time in measures for the 
furtherance of our common Christianity, e.g., in a manifesto 
showing the essential unity of that God-built and Spirit- 
inhabited Church of which each regenerate man is a living 
stone, in opposition to the mock unity of the worldly 
sanctuary of mere churchism ; in a course of lectures on 
the modern heresy, in an evangelistic effort to preach the 
gospel to every creature in England should the gross dark- 
ness of Puseyism settle down on its parishes, etc. 

" Therefore, and as a conclusion of the whole matter, I 



" REMEMBERING ZION " 



197 



would seek by all pacific means to enlist under Presby- 
terian banners as many as I could for the sake of that 
grander ultimatum, the enlisting through a lively and 
influential Presbyterian church increasing numbers under 
the banner of the Cross. 

" I despair of the Church of England. It never took 
honest leave of Babylon. It is going back in time to 
share Babylon's overthrow. If deliverance is to come to 
the Church of God in England, it must be from some 
quarter more evangelical, — most probably from a union 
of all that is evangelical in England. On the Presby- 
terian platform I see room enough for all to meet, and 
find it an impregnable position. 

" James Hamilton." 

After dealing with family worship his next care was 
the public worship of the Sabbath. The Church in the 
House was published on the 1st of January, and Remem- 
bering Zion followed on 10th February 1842. This second 
tract is addressed to Scotchmen in London, and its design 
is to commend the doctrine, discipline, and worship of 
their fathers and their fatherland. Although it gives a 
certain sound in favour of his own cherished Presbyterian 
system, it breathes throughout a spirit of the most gener- 
ous and catholic sympathy with all the members of the 
Christian brotherhood. Observing that many of his 
countrymen when settled in the great metropolis, like 
individual trees not seen in the wood, glided away first 
from the Presbyterian Church, and next from the Church 
altogether, he set himself to counteract the danger by the 



198 



SCOTCHMEN IN LONDON. 



methods which he understood and could employ. With 
him it was certainly not a sectarian movement. He knew 
not of any way by which he could do more good to Scotch- 
men in London than by inducing them to attend the 
Scottish Church. 

The introductory sentences of the tract, written in his 
own peculiar vein, with its characteristics perhaps even 
more strongly marked than in later years, is a good ex- 
ample of the apostolic method of taking by guile those 
whom you desire to win. The patriotism, and the prin- 
ciples, and the habits, and even the prejudices of Scotch- 
men, are touched skilfully, and all compelled to contribute 
their share to the result. 

" When the Israelites were in a city vast and ungodly 
like London, — a city without a Sabbath, — they used, when 
they had opportunity, to sit down and talk of the fair 
land and the lovely temple from which they had been 
wrenched away. ' By the rivers of Babylon there we sat 
down ; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion/ Dear 
fellow-countrymen, most of you are so far like the Israelites 
that you remember with tenderness the land of your birth, 
and cannot bear that others should speak of it dis- 
paragingly. You like to be reminded of the scenery of 
Scotland, the summer verdure of its straths and glens, and 
the polished fulness of its deep blue lakes; its wailing 
winter torrents, and the snow-laden mountains which feed 
them. And you love its ancient minstrelsy — the gather- 
ing songs in whose high pulse the hero-hearts of the olden 
time still throb, and those pathetic dirges which were 
nature's own anthems chanted by woodland rills and 



SABBATHS IN SCOTLAND. 



199 



lonely waterfalls long before man set them to his music. 
But there are glorious things of Scotland which you have 
still more reason to remember. You have not forgotten 
the schools and sanctuaries, and Sabbath days, which once 
were Scotland's own ; and perhaps you will not refuse to 
listen a few moments whilst we would call them to re- 
membrance. Let us here, in this busy tumultuous Baby- 
lon, sit down for a little and remember our Zion. 

"You remember the Sabbath days of Scotland. You 
remember how the Sabbath was wont weekly to set every 
house in order throughout the land. You remember the 
Saturday evening's preparation for the Sabbath's rest — the 
early cessation of labour in the fields and factories, the 
timely marketing, the lustration of each apartment, the 
arranging of household furniture, the fetching home of 
water from the well, the storing of fagots for fuel, the 
busy exertions of young and old to anticipate and super- 
sede all Sabbath toil, which resulted in imparting before- 
hand a look of Sabbatic neatness and tranquillity to the 
well-ordered habitation. You remember too the friendly 
visits which neighbour families were wont to exchange 
that evening, loth to invade the sanctity of each other's 
houses on the Lord's own day, but glad to take advantage 
of this breathing-time to cement those friendships which 
they meant to be hereditary. You remember the Sabbath 
dawn, with its morning orisons and the prompt prepara- 
tions for the house of God. You remember the fresh and 
wholesome aspect of the mustering population as they 
wended slowly through the churchyard : the spectacled 
matron with her bulky Bible wrapped in its snowy ker- 



200 



SABBATHS IN SCOTLAND. 



chief, and provided with a fragrant sprig of some favourite 
herb ; the cottar in the homespun suit which the Sabbath 
storms of many winters had washed, but had not tattered ; 
and the artisan with his children, whose countenances 
forgot their week-day toil as they put off their week-day 
garments. If it were a parish over which a man of God 
presided, you remember the reverence of their worship 
and the solemnity of their bearing ; whilst one who under- 
stood the case of each spoke home to the hearts' of all, 
and their common confessions and thanksgivings and sup- 
plications, uttered by one voice, were echoed by a hundred 
hearts. You remember the heart-music which you some- 
times heard at the uprising of the great congregation, 
when the burly voice of manhood and the quivering notes 
of palsy-stricken age, ' young men and maidens, old men 
and children,' praising God, told that he had made their 
hearts right glad. You remember the Sabbath eve, when 
the children's tasks were over, and the sermons had been 
repeated, and with the Bible or the Pilgrim's Progress, or 
the Fourfold State, each hied away to the barn or the 
fir-plantation, or some of the thousand cottage oratories 
which God knows full well in that land of many wor- 
shippers, till the downward sun reminded them that it 
was time to close these solitary studies, and gather round 
the household hearth once more." 

Having thus sought to insinuate himself into the favour 
of his countrymen, he proceeds in a strain of the gentlest 
brotherly kindness, but at the same time of the clearest 
logic, to commend to their understandings and their hearts 
the Standards, the Worship, the Government, the History, 



TROUBLES IN THE SCOTTISH CHURCH. 201 



and the spiritual attainments of the Scottish Presbyterian 
Church. 

But that Church, so dear to him in his partial exile, was 
by this time advancing deep into a sea of troubles. For- 
ward, in obedience to her fundamental principles, and the 
command of her Divine Head — forward she must of neces- 
sity go ; although every minister and every member knew 
right well by this time that the path of duty was the path 
of danger. The conflict within the Church on the one 
hand, and between the Church and the civil courts on the 
other, was approaching its crisis. The principles involved 
in the controversy, and the gravity of its result, are better 
appreciated by politicians now, twenty- six years after the 
event, than they were at the time. The ministers and elders 
of the Scottish Church knew the stake and the conditions 
thoroughly from the first ; but those who in that day 
occupied the position of statesmen were profoundly 
ignorant both of the principles contended for, and the 
earnestness of the contenders. Adopting cynically the 
shallow rule that churchmen, although they make a great 
noise, will succumb in the long-run if you control them 
by their pecuniary interest, they peremptorily declined to 
listen to the demand made by the Scottish Church for 
independence in its own spiritual sphere and action. The 
consequence was the Disruption, — an event which was 
destined, as it now appears, to become one of the great 
cardinal points of our national history. 

Sympathizing thoroughly with his brethren in Scotland, 
James Hamilton saw, in 1842, the shadows of the coming 
event, and applied himself in his own fashion to prepare 



202 



THE CONVOCATION. 



for it. When his heart was full of a great subject it dis- 
charged itself by a tract. In this direction he had already 
discovered that he possessed a means of access to the 
public ear, and in such a crisis he would not neglect his 
opportunity. 

The most important of the many assemblies held in 
Scotland by the reforming party within the Church, for 
mutual counsel and defence, was that which was convened 
in Edinburgh in November 1842, and has ever since been 
known as " the Convocation." Unlike all other Presby- 
terian councils, it consisted of ministers only. Its de- 
liberations were conducted with closed doors ; and by 
common consent no layman, not even an elder, was once 
admitted. The reason for both the privacy of the assembly 
and its exclusively clerical constituency was abundantly 
strong, although to outsiders not at first sight obvious. 
The moment that the reason is stated, not to say explained, 
every fair mind instinctively acquiesces in its propriety. 
All had now been done that men of honour could conde- 
scend to do, with the view of retaining the spiritual 
freedom of the Church in conjunction with its position as 
a national establishment ; and the time had come when 
it behoved the party who were faithful to the scriptural 
principles and glorious history of their Church to make a 
final stand, and intimate to all concerned that if a certain 
definite measure of relief should not be granted by the 
Legislature within a certain definite space of time, they 
should abandon their connexion with the State, in order 
to maintain allegiance to their heavenly King. Now, as 
it was on the side of the ministers almost exclusively that 



THE CONVOCATION. 



203 



the contemplated measure involved a pecuniary sacrifice, 
and as in their case it involved the sacrifice of all that 
they possessed, it was felt that they alone should discuss 
the policy of the plan, and frame their resolution upon it, 
apart from the influence, and even the presence, of other 
parties not so deeply interested in the result. 

The place chosen for the sittings of the Convocation 
was Eoxburgh Church, — the same building in which James 
Hamilton had exercised a brief ministry immediately 
before his removal to London. He attended all the de- 
liberations, and cordially cast in his lot with the brethren. 
Immediately after his return appeared another tract, entitled 
" The Harp on the Willows," in which he describes the 
assembly, and explains to the English people its resolu- 
tions, and their grounds. The brochure was eminently 
useful in conveying correct information to Englishmen on 
a subject with which they were not familiar. 

A letter, written at Edinburgh during the sittings of 
the Convocation, possesses much historical value, as indi- 
cating the general tone of its members at the critical 
moment in the history of the Church : — 

TO ME. WILLIAM HAMILTON. 

"15 Buccleuch Place, Edin., 
Nov. 19, 1842. 

"My dear Me. Hamilton, — The Convocation has 
adjourned for this week, and if its future proceedings be 
conducted in the same spirit of conciliation and harmony 
as hitherto, I have no doubt that the effect on the country 
will be great. The effect on the ministers themselves is 



204 



THE CONVOCATION. 



evidently good. They met, almost as many minds as there 
were men. But the proceedings were opened by a mosv 
appropriate and impressive sermon by Dr. Chalmers on 
the spirit in which these deliberations should be conducted. 
There was much prayer intermingled with all their pro- 
ceedings ; and though yesterday there were three different 
proposals, this morning they very unexpectedly and wonder- 
fully were fused together, and all agreed that in going to 
Government they should demand as a minimum a satis- 
factory non-intrusion measure (the liberum arbitrium being 
held unsatisfactory), and the uncontrolled spiritual juris- 
diction of the Church courts. On Monday, it will be 
considered what ought to be done in the event of no 
answer, or a negative being returned to this application. 
The prevailing feeling is, that rather than be decimated 
one by one, they should stand together and hold them- 
selves ready to secede in a body, and make this intention 
known. Some will be for remaining till they be driven 
out, but these I think are very few, and perhaps on this 
also there will be a unanimous resolution. 

" Nearly 500 are present. The feeling is that of much 
mutual confidence (with some few exceptions), and a 
solemn realization of their position as in the crisis of the 
Church's history. In the remarkable harmony of this day 
it was generally felt that the Spirit of Love, and of a sound 
mind, was the Author of it, and every one saw that it was 
an answer to prayer. 

" I have seen almost all your friends, Mr. S. Martin, Mr. 
Anderson, etc. But the Convocation consumes the day, 
and, except for a few moments in the lobby, or with a 



" THE HARP ON THE WILLOWS." 



205 



neighbour beside you, there is little opportunity for news 
or talk. I am very glad I came, and very glad that 
Eegent Square sent its token of good-will. It verifies 
Eom. i. 8. 

"To-morrow morning I preach in Eoxburgh Church, 
and nowhere else. I would have written more minutely, 
but from the private nature of the meetings I am not sure 
yet whether it is right to enter more into particulars. 

" Eemember me most kindly to Mrs. Hamilton, and to 
those brethren of the Session who may be at the Monday 
prayer-meeting. The Convocation will, at the time of 
that meeting, be deciding the point which involves the 
temporal interests of the ministers, and I am sure you 
will not forget to seek for them a self-renouncing spirit. — 
I remain, yours most affectionately, 

" James Hamilton." 

The introduction of the tract is characteristic : — 
" Two months ago I went to Edinburgh to attend the 
Convocation of Ministers. Like many of my countrymen 
my heart used to beat harder when I came in sight of that 
city of Eeformers and Covenanters, of hallow 7 ed Sabbaths, 
and crowded churches, and solemn assemblies. Its towers 
and steeples used to say, Mount Zion stands most beauti- 
ful. But on this occasion ' how did the city sit solitary ! ' 
Its pleasant sanctuaries had a look of widowhood; and 
the most melancholy object of all was a gorgeous un- 
finished structure on the Castle Hill, reared for the 
Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, but more likely to 
be their cenotaph. Ministers preached, and congregations 



206 



APPEAL TO ENGLISHMEN. 



worshipped, as under warning to quit, and there was 
much of a farewell solemnity in every service. In private 
it was the same ; and, amidst many joyful meetings and 
much longed-for intercourse, there was a prevailing ten- 
dency to sadness. There was a mournful and foreboding 
feeling, like that which reigned in Jerusalem after the 
voice had cried in the Temple, ' Arise ! depart ! ' and just 
before the abomination of desolation took his stand in the 
holy place. There was a conviction deeper than ever that 
the cause of the Church was the cause of God, and there- 
fore not soon likely to become the cause of man. How- 
ever, a few ' hoped against hope ; ' and the last evening I 
spent in Edinburgh, and being rather a cheering word I 
remember it better, in the course of a conversation about 
the Church's prospects, an accomplished barrister said in 
my hearing, ' I have great hope from the honesty of 
Englishmen. The English are a just people, and, if they 
understood our case, would do us justice.' 

"Now, dear friends, to be as honest as yourselves, I 
have great fear that you do not understand the case, and 
some fear that you will not study it. If the Waldenses 
were about to be ejected from those valleys, which they hold 
by solemn treaty, I could count on your interference. Or 
if the civil courts of Constantinople were tampering with 
the internal arrangements of our ambassador's chapel, I 
believe you would think it right that our Government 
should remonstrate. Now that the Queen of Madagascar 
is concussing Christian consciences, I know that many of 
you are indignant, and would interpose your protection if 
you could. If you will hear me patiently, I promise to 



THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. 207 



show that the cases are too parallel ; and as I shall endea- 
vour to relieve the subject of all intricate details and 
metaphysical niceties, so I earnestly trust that, if I make 
out a case of grievance or suffering for conscience' sake, 
you who have ere now listened to a voice from Piedmont, 
will not shut your ears against a voice from the Church of 
Scotland. 

" At the Revolution — which you and we agree in calling 
glorious — the Government restored to Scotland the reli- 
gion which the Eeformers gave it. Presbyterianism was 
established; that is to say, a Presbyterian minister was 
planted in every parish. A house was assigned to this 
minister to live in ; four or five acres of land were annexed 
to this house, on which some oats and barley might grow, 
and a cow might pasture; and then to purchase books, 
and furniture, and fuel, and other creature- comforts not 
indigenous to the glebe, a small salary from a portion of 
the ancient tithes was superadded. In consideration of 
the manse, glebe, and stipend, the people of that parish 
were entitled to the services of the minister, could claim 
their seat in the parish church, and enjoy, rich and poor 
alike, the ordinances of religion. In those happy days 
each parish chose its own elders, and they, along with 
such of the landed proprietors as were members of the 
church, chose the minister. And as they usually chose 
the best, Scotland 'flourished by the preaching of the 
word.' " 

He then proceeds to explain, in simple and graphic 
style, how this fair garden was turned into a desert by the 
tyrannical re-enactment of patronage in the beginning of 



208 THE LIBERTY DEMANDED BY THE CHURCH, 

the last century, and by the subversion of spiritual liberty 
in the Church through the agency of the civil courts in 
the earlier half of the present. It is true that in our day 
men in high places of the State distinctly announce their 
theory of an Established Church to be subjection of the 
Church to the Courts of the State in all their affairs, as 
the price of Establishment and Endowment by the re- 
sources of the nation ; it is true also that various parties 
in the Church of England, including that which is 
reckoned distinctively evangelical, accept and even boast 
of that humiliating condition. Not so the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland in its best days ; not so the churches 
of Scotland that are free. It was a fundamental principle 
of the historical Church of Scotland, from the Reforma- 
tion downwards, that no civil court had a right to review 
or reverse a sentence pronounced by a Church court in 
spiritual matters. That principle was frequently misre- 
presented by ignorant or prejudiced persons, as if the 
Church were setting up a Popish claim to exemption in 
favour of ecclesiastics from subjection to civil law. This 
was a grievous mistake ; but it was difficult to get the 
mistake corrected where people were not willing to learn. 
Throughout the conflict the Church uniformly conceded 
the right of the civil courts to control all temporal 
interests according to law, and by their own methods. 
They were perfectly willing that the judges, if they found 
that a Presbytery had ordained the wrong minister, should 
adjudge the manse and church and stipend to another ; 
but they did not concede that the judges were competent 
either to ordain a certain minister themselves, or to com- 



AND REFUSED BY THE STATE. 209 



pel the Presbytery to do it. The claim of the Church 
was, leave us free to pronounce sentence in matters purely 
spiritual, according to our own scriptural rules, without 
being liable to authoritative review in the civil court ; 
and if the civil court find that we have transgressed any 
law, let the penalty be the loss of the temporalities. Let the 
courts of the State, if they see fit, take all that the State 
ever gave ; but let them not presume either to reverse our 
sentences themselves, or compel us by penalties to reverse 
them. 

This liberty was formally denied to the Church by the 
Legislature; this liberty no Established Church enjoys. 
The theory accepted by the heads of both political parties 
is, that if the State endows the Church, the State also 
rules it. The spiritual sentences of ecclesiastical tribunals 
are liable to be reviewed, and if need be reversed, by the 
civil courts, precisely as the sentences of inferior civil 
courts are subject to review by the superior. 

Two sets of resolutions were after full deliberation 
unanimously adopted by the Convocation. The first series 
defined exactly, not the measure of freedom which the 
Church, deemed the best, but the minimum — the smallest 
measure consistent with truth and honour. The second 
pledged all the members to abandon the Establishment at 
the date of the next General Assembly in May, if the 
previously defined relief should not by that time have 
been granted by the Legislature. These resolutions were 
duly made known to the Government and the Houses of 
Parliament, and then the ministers awaited the result. 
The result is well known. Statesmen refused to believe 



210 SKETCH OF THE CONVOCATION 



that the ministers would renounce their benefices until 
they were convinced by the fact, and then it was too late 
to amend the blunder. 

Dr. Hamilton's sketch of the character and constituents 
of the Assembly is a valuable record, now that most of the 
leading actors have been removed from the stage. 

" Nearly 500 came together ; and it was very plain that 
no ordinary call could have brought from the remotest 
headlands of our rugged land such a company in the dead 
season of the year. 

" After a prayer-meeting in St. George's Church, and a 
sermon by Dr. Chalmers, — ' Unto the upright there ariseth 
light in the darkness/ — the ministers adjourned to Eox- 
burgh Church. Dr. Chalmers took the chair. It was 
agreed that during each sederunt three of the brethren 
should engage in prayer, and in this way confession and 
supplication assumed a prominent place in the business of 
each meeting. None but ministers were present. In 
order to encourage each member freely to speak his mind 
this privacy was requisite, and it tended greatly to impart 
a confiding and conversational tone to their proceedings. 
For our own part it made us feel that the innermost side 
of good men is the best side ; and whilst listening to the 
brotherly tone of their communings, so unlike the defiance 
and disdain of Christian heroism and self-renunciation 
which were ever and anon expressed, we wished that the 
world were present ; and during the devotional exercises 
and at intervals throughout the deliberations, when sudden 
light or consolation broke in, in a way which brought 
tears to many eyes, we would have liked that all the 



AND ITS CONSTITUENT MEMBERS. 211 



Christians in the kingdom could be present, for we felt 
assured that the Lord Himself was there. And then, when 
we looked at the materials of the meeting, and saw before 
us, with few exceptions, all the talent, and, with still 
fewer exceptions, all the piety of the Church of Scotland, 
we wished that those were present in whose power it lies 
to preserve to the Scottish Establishment all this learning 
and this worth. There was the chairman, who might so 
easily have been the Adam Smith, the Leibnitz, or the 
Bossuet of the day, but who, having obtained a better 
part, has laid economics and philosophy and eloquence on 
the altar which sanctified himself. There was Dr. Gordon, 
lofty in simplicity, whose vast conceptions and majestic 
emotions plough deeper the old channels of customary 
words, and make common phrases appear solemn and 
sublime after he has used them. There were Dr. Keith, 
whose labours in the prophecies have sent his fame through 
Europe, and are yearly bringing converts into the Church 
of Christ ; and Mr. James Buchanan, whose deep-drawn 
sympathy and rich Bible-lore, and Christian refinement, 
have made him a son of consolation to so many of the 
sons of sorrow. There were Dr. Welsh, the biographer 
and bosom friend of Thomas Brown ; Dr. Forbes, among 
the most inventive of modern mathematicians ; and Dr. 
Paterson, whose Manse Garden is read for the sake of its 
poetry and wisdom and Christian kindness where there 
are no gardens, and will be read for the sake of other days 
when there are no manses. And there was Dr. Patrick 
M'Farlan, whose calm judgment is a sanction to any 
measure, and who, holding the richest benefice in Scotland, 



212 



THE DEATH OF M'CHEYKE. 



most appropriately moved the resolution, that rather than 
sacrifice their principles they should surrender their pos- 
sessions ; and not to mention ' names the poet must not 
speak/ there were in that Assembly the men who are 
dearest of all to the godly throughout the land, the men 
whom the Lord delighted to honour, — all the ministers in 
whose parishes have been great revivals, from the apostle 
of the North, good old Mr. Macdonald, whose happy 
countenance is a signal for expectation and gladness in 
every congregation he visits ; and Mr. Burns of Kilsyth, 
whose affectionate counsels and prayers made the Convo- 
cation feel towards him as a father, — down to those 
younger ministers of whom, but for our mutual friend- 
ship, I could speak more freely. When we looked at the 
whole, knowing something of all, we felt, first, such an 
Assembly never met in Scotland before ; secondly, it will 
depend on them, under God, whether Scotland can ever 
furnish such an Assembly again; and, thirdly, what a 
blot on any reign, and what a guilt on any Government, 
which casts forth such a company ! And then, after some 
sadder musings, came in this thought, Yet what a blessing 
to the world if they were scattered abroad, everywhere 
preaching the word !" 

In March 1843 he was first greatly grieved, and sub- 
sequently much quickened in spirit, by the stroke that 
was tenderly felt by the whole Christian brotherhood that 
use in common the English tongue — the sudden removal 
of his friend and fellow-labourer, Eobert M. M'Cheyne of 
Dundee. News had reached him in the end of the week 
of his beloved brother's dangerous illness. As no letters 



THE DEATH OF M f CHEYNE. 



213 



are delivered in London on Sabbath, lie was on the watch 
with peculiar earnestness on Monday morning for the 
postman's call. His mother, himself, and his friend and 
neighbour, Mr. James Watson, were sitting together at 
breakfast in his house, when the double knock, much 
longed for and yet secretly dreaded, rang through the 
room. He bounded to his feet, and made towards the 
lobby with a spring, saying, "We shall hear how dear 
Eobert is !" Eeturning with some letters in his hand, 
and opening one of them by the way, he obtained a glance 
of the first line as he entered the dining-room, and learned 
the final fact. His hand fell down by his side as if it 
had been stricken with paralysis. Uttering a gentle 
exclamation, " Eobert is gone!" he stood still and pale 
like a statue for about a minute, and then said, " Let us 
pray." All knelt in silence ; then, himself and Mr. Wat- 
son alternately giving their desires expression, they poured 
out to God hearts that were too full for converse with 
each other. It was a great love, for it was a love in the 
Spirit. The fountains of a great deep were broken up in 
the survivor when his brother in the Lord was removed 
from his sight. 



TO REV. ANDREW BONAR, COLLACE. 

" 7 Lansdowne Flace, April 1, 1843. 
"My dear, dear Brother, — This has been a solemn 
and affecting week, and this the most affecting day of all. 
When the post brought two letters this afternoon from 
Dundee, giving an account of the funeral, and I felt that 



214 



LESSONS FEOM THE LIFE 



the grave had really closed upon him, I cannot tell the 
feelings of desolation that came over my mind. I had 
hoped by the end of this month to see him once more, 
and it looks so very short since last November when he 
was here. But I have yielded too much to these feelings, 
and unless God strengthen my weak body and mind, I 
will be very unfit for to-morrow. Nor could I write now 
unless it were to you, or some one who has felt like you. 

" It has been a mournful relief to find how many here 
are moved by the tidings. It shows not only that his 
last visit has made a deep impression — which I knew — 
but it leads me to hope that the striking dispensation may 
be blessed to this people. 

" But I have been trying to bring my cold, stubborn, 
unbelieving heart to ponder God's message to myself. 
When I compare myself with him I see what sinful 
trifling much of my ministry has been ; and when I think 
how beautiful was his holiness, and how impressive the 
consistency of his character, and think of my incurable 
levity and readiness to fall in with other people's ways, I 
would despair were it not for the exhaustless resources of 
the cleansing blood and sanctifying Spirit. Oh, to follow 
the Lord fully like him, — to be the Christ-like man he 
was ! You, my kind, dear friend, know my infirmities — 
some of them at least ; and for the sake of my not dis- 
honouring Christ, for the sake of my usefulness, tell me 
freely of them. The Lord is speaking in this providence, 
and is calling to ministers to arise and begin anew. I 
wish to hear His voice, and have been praying these days 
past for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Oh that the 



AND THE DEATH OF M'CHEYNE. 



215 



Lord would grant that double portion to many Elishas in 
Scotland also ! 

" He was with you this time last year. I have a letter 
dated from ' Collace, March 25th, 1842/ I mean to read 
it to the people to-morrow. But I have only two letters 
besides preserved. I shall send them to you, though not 
so remarkable as many you will have, for I rejoice to hear 
that you mean to write down with pen and ink some of 
the more memorable things which God had written on 
this living epistle. Seldom has there been one so distinct 
and ML 

" There are many good people in Eegent Square, and 
things outwardly are rather prosperous ; but we have 
much need to pray that the Lord would stir up His 
strength and might, and come and save us, for the careless 
people are much as they were. The church is very large, 
and the people look far away, — not within arm's-length, 
as in Abernyte or Collace. But I do hope that, in rich 
and sovereign grace, God may send us, notwithstanding 
our carnality and worldliness, a season of refreshing. 

" Pray much for it, and for one who would feel it a 
privilege to be your brother in the kingdom and patience 
of Jesus Christ, and is your affectionate friend, 

" James Hamilton." 

" 7 Lansdowxe Place, April 6, 1843. 
" Last week was a heavy one — some solemn and quick- 
ening thoughts mingling with many sad ones. Bobert 
M'Cheyne was not a year older than myself, but what a 
work he had finished before he was called away ! Though 



216 



SELF-INSPECTION. 



with an incomparably colder heart, I believe I love the 
same Saviour to whom he had dedicated himself, and it is 
my desire to extend His glory in the world. How shall I 
do it? I am so frivolous, so unequal, so carnal, that I 
often feel it would be better for the cause of Christ that 
I was not identified with it. But here I am planted in a 
most important position — minister of one of the few Scotch 
churches here — with a people so immersed in business 
that ordinary impressions fast fade from their minds, — so 
intelligent and observing that any inconsistency in their 
minister is sure to be noticed, and many of them so fasti- 
dious, or so slightly bound to myself, that a very little 
thing would drive them away. Here have I been for 
nineteen months and more, and except a large increase to 
the congregation, and some marks of outward prosperity, 
little has been done. The Spirit has been restrained. Tew 
deep impressions have been made, and I scarcely know of 
any sound conversions. Lord, let me not despond. Make 
me consistent. Make me a living epistle. Give me 
wisdom from above. Make me spiritually-minded." 

Thus the early departure of M'Cheyne affected those of 
kindred spirit who had been intimately associated with 
him in his brief, and, cn its upper side, brilliant ministry. 
It humbled, reproved, quickened, and stimulated them. 
But the effects of that divine dispensation were not 
limited to the comparatively narrow circle of M'Cheyne's 
personal friends. Through the memorials and remains of 
the young minister, prepared by the tender hand and con- 
genial spirit of Andrew Bonar, his death exerted perhaps 



A QUICKENED MINISTRY. 



217 



a greater power in advancing Christ's kingdom than his 
life could have put forth. 

The next letter written by Mr. Hamilton — the next as 
far as they have come under our observation — affords 
simple and interesting evidence of the sharpening which 
his spirit had obtained in the furnace of his great sorrow : 

"London, April 14, 1843. 

" My dear Mrs. Vetch, — It gave me great pleasure to 
hear from you ; and it would give me much if this at all 
answered the end for which you so kindly asked me to 
write. It makes me happy when I find a friend who 
really desires to hear or speak about Christ. In heaven 
He mingles with every thought, is the spring of every 
service, and the burden of every song. But few in heaven 
have such reason to love Him as sinners here on earth. It 
is in our world that Bethlehem, and Nazareth, and Calvary 
are to be found ; and if we ever go to heaven it is the 
blood shed at Jerusalem which must take us there. But 
it is the depravity of our hearts that we cannot love this 
Saviour, that we cannot even bend our minds to think of 
Him, and meditate upon Him, until the fire burn ! You 
complain that your heart is cold towards the Friend of 
sinners. There is One who can make it glow. It is the 
work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus ; and He can 
show Christ in such a light that the heart cannot help 
being warmed and melted. The Holy Spirit does this 
through His own chosen instrumentality, of which the 
chief is the Word read and heard. The last I believe to 
be chiefly blessed. I do not well know how you are situated 
with regard to ministers in your part of the country; but 



218 



THE DISRUPTION IN SCOTLAND. 



the earnest advice of your old friend would be to search 
out the liveliest and most faithful preacher of Christ in all 
the country-side, and frequent his ministry, however far 
away. I know that you and the Major are members of 
the Episcopal Church, but that will not hinder you from 
getting good by a - gospel ministry wherever you find it. 
And it is of such surpassing moment to hear the truth as 
it is in Jesus affectionately declared, that it were worth a 
long pilgrimage to go and hear it. It is little that I 
know of Christ, but that little is my truest joy. It is 
more than I once did, and though I have more labours and 
anxieties now than I once had, I believe that I am happier 
than I once was. I am sorry that this note must be so 
short, but I shall be glad to write again. I thank you for 
the tender and beautiful verses, and thank Major Vetch 
for introducing me to such a man as Mr. Money. I have 
not yet been able to go with the letter, but I hope to do 
so soon. 

" May your peace be like a river. — Yours most truly, 

"James Hamilton." 

In May of this year the memorable Disruption of the 
Church of Scotland took place. The resolutions of the 
Convocation, signed by 400 ministers, had been laid before 
the Parliament and the Government ; but the statesmen 
of the day offered no redress for wrongs inflicted, no 
relaxation of bonds imposed upon the Church. The 
majority, liberal, advancing, and devoted, held to the last 
by the hope that the relief which scriptural truth de- 
manded, and imperial policy manifestly suggested, would 



" FAREWELL TO EGYPT." 



219 



be granted. They were loath to believe that the historic 
Church of Scotland would be held bound to take their 
orders, in spiritual matters as well as temporal, from the 
Court of Session. The law officers of the Crown advised 
that the liberty which they demanded was their own by 
the constitution of the realm ; and five of the thirteen 
Judges in the Scottish Supreme Court pronounced their 
opinions to the same effect. But the opposite view pre- 
vailed. It was finally determined that the position and 
emoluments of the Establishment should belong ex- 
clusively to those who, in such matters as the ordination 
or deposition of a minister, should simply obey the de- 
cision of the Civil Court. 

The crisis had come. The liberty of the Presbyterian 
Church must be crushed, as that of the Episcopal has long 
been, under a merely Erastian supremacy, or the Church 
must go out from the Establishment, carrying her freedom 
along with her, and leaving her emoluments behind. 
Towards Edinburgh, on the days immediately preceding 
the 1 8th of May, the more energetic spirits gravitated from 
every corner of the land, prepared to act worthily one 
great turning-point of our national history. J ames Ham- 
ilton was there, soul and body, prepared to take his part. 
In a tract published immediately afterwards, under the 
title Farewell to Egypt, the scene, while yet fresh in his 
memory, was pictured by his own pen. 

" Edinburgh is one of those cities which seem designed 
as the arena of mighty incidents. Commanding that wide 
prospect of fertile fields, and of the far- stretching ocean, 
which is itself enlarging to the soul; overhung by tall 



220 



THE SCENE AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES 



piles of ancient masonry, and hoary battlements which 
only speak of other years ; looking up to everlasting 
mountains which carry the thoughts aloft, or far into the 
future ; and with the solemn shadows of the ancient capi- 
tal diffusing a sedateness over the elegance of the modem 
town : Edinburgh is essentially an historic city — a city 
familiar with great events, and a proper place for tbeir 
transaction. On the morning of the 1 8th May it had the 
look as if such an event were coming. People were early 
astir. When the hours of business came men either for- 
bore their usual occupations or plied them in a way which 
showed they had as lief forbear. Holyrood was one point 
of attraction, for the yearly gleam of royalty was flickering 
about its grim turrets and through its gaunt open gate- 
way. The scarlet yeomen with their glancing halberts, 
and the horsemen curvetting in the court of the resound- 
ing 'Sanctuary/ announced that the representative of 
majesty was within ; and a stream of very various equi- 
pages was conveying down the Canongate professors from 
the College and red-gowned magistrates from the Council 
Chamber, lawyers from the Parliament House, and lairds 
from all the Lothians, besides a long pedestrian procession 
of doctors and ministers and burgh elders, all resorting to 
the Palace to pay their homage to His Grace the Queen's 
Commissioner. From Holyrood they marched to the High 
Church. This venerable fabric seemed also to renew the 
days of old. Beneath that canopy where James, of 
pedantic memory, used to sit, and sometimes dispute with 
John Durie and Patrick Simpson, sate the representative 
of royalty, and, all around, the gallery was garnished with 



OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1843. 221 



the parti-coloured pomp of civic functionaries, whilst the 
area was filled with that grave and learned auditory which 
no other occasion could supply. The discourse, 'Let 
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind/ was a 
production which, for wise and weighty casuistry, for keen 
analysis of motive and fine discrimination of truth, and 
for felicity of historic illustration, would have been a treat 
to such a congregation at a less eventful season. With 
the solemn consciousness that in the 'full persuasion' of 
their own minds they had decided in another hour to take 
a step in which character and worldly comfort and mini- 
sterial usefulness were all involved, each sentence came 
with a sanction which such sermons seldom carry. When 
the service was closing the audience began to disperse 
with a precipitation which contrasted strangely with the 
fixed earnestness of their previous attention ; for the place 
appointed for the meeting of Assembly lay at some dis- 
tance, and the members were anxious to secure their seats, 
and onlookers were anxious to get near the spot. In 
the Assembly Hall many of the gallery spectators had sate 
nine weary hours ; when at last the rapid entrance of 
members by either door announced that the service in St. 
Giles's was over, and languid countenances were again 
lighted up with expectation. It did not look like the 
opening of a General Assembly. There was not the usual 
vivacity of recognition, and that hustling to and fro and 
ferment of joyous voices which on such occasions keep 
the floor all astir and the audience all alive. Either side 
was serious. The one party had that awe upon their spirits 
which men feel when doing a great work. Of the other 



222 



THE PROTEST OF THE MODERATOR, 



party some had that cloud upon their consciences which 
men feel when they are doing a wrong work, — when they 
see others doing what but for want of faith themselves 
should have been doing; and others more honest, con- 
sistent Erastians of the old school, had something of a 
funereal feeling — sadness in parting with opponents whom 
they respected, and a foreboding impression that when 
these were gone away it would scarcely be worth while 
remaining. 

"At last the jingle of horse-gear, and the measured 
prance on the pavement, with the full near swell of the 
trumpet seemed to say, in the words of the national 
melody, 

1 Now 's the day and now 's the hour.' 

The martial music ceased, and the Assembly rose, for Her 
Majesty's Commissioner had entered. The Moderator 
engaged in prayer, and as soon as that prayer was ended, 
and the members had resumed their seats amidst the 
breathless silence which prevailed, he went on to say, 
'According to the usual form of procedure, this is the 
time for making up the roll, but in consequence of certain 
proceedings affecting our rights and privileges — proceed- 
ings which have been sanctioned by Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment and by the Legislature of the country, and more 
especially in respect that there has been an infringement 
on the liberties of our Constitution, so that we could not 
now constitute this Court without a violation of the terms 
of the union between Church and State in this land as now 
authoritatively declared, — I must protest against our pro- 
ceeding further. The reasons that have led me to this 



AND THE EXODUS OF THE CHURCH. 



223 



conclusion are fully set forth in the document which I 
hold in my hand, and which, with permission of the 
House, I shall now proceed to read/ He then read the 
Protest, and having laid it on the table, bowed towards 
the throne, and withdrew. Man by man, and row by 
row, all to the left of the chair, arose and followed. An 
irrepressible shout of gratulation from the multitude in 
the street announced that the vanguard was fairly ' with- 
out the camp,' and, orderly and slowly retiring, in a few 
short minutes all were gone. Looking at the long ranges 
of vacant forms from which the pride of Scottish genius 
and the flower of Scottish piety had disappeared, there 
were few spectators who did not feel, ' the glory is 
departed/ 

" It was a striking sight to see the dark line, for half a 
mile together, moving down the steep declivity which leads 
to the valley of Leith Water. In the distance stood, bright 
in its polished freshness, the new Assembly Hall, on which 
they had turned their backs for ever. On either side was 
the crowd of lookers-on — thronging windows and balconies, 
and outside stairs — some cheering, and others Lifting their 
hats in silent reverence — some weeping, many wondering, 
and a few endeavouring to smile. And in the middle of 
the street held on the long procession, which included 
Welsh and Chalmers, Gordon and Buchanan, Keith and 
M'Farlan, Alexander Stewart and John Macdonald, Cun- 
ningham and Candlish ; everything of which a Scotchman 
thinks when he thinks of the Church of Scotland. Humble 
in its original destination, and prepared in haste, but of 
vast dimensions, and crowded with an eager auditory, 



224 



THE ASSEMBLY FREE. 



their new place of meeting was emblematic of that new 
dispensation in the history of the Church of Scotland 
which had now begun. The emblems of royal patronage 
were absent. There was neither canopy nor throne. No 
civic pomp was seen. Magistrates had laid aside their 
robes of office, and none of Scotland's nobles had come.' 
But the heart of Scotland was there, and it was soon 
borne in on every mind that a greater than Solomon was 
there. None who heard them can ever forget the fulness 
and world-forgetting rapture, the inspiration of the opening 
prayers ; and when that mighty multitude stood up to sing, 
it seemed as if the swell of vehement melody won Id lift 
the roof from off the walls. And when at last the adjourn- 
ment for the day took place, and in the brightness of a 
lovely evening the different groups went home, all felt as 
if returning from a Pentecostal meeting. A common 
salutation was — 'We have seen strange things to-day.' 
Some, contrasting the harmony and happiness of the Free 
Assembly with the strife and debate of other days, could 
not help exclaiming, c Behold how good and how pleasant 
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! 1 Many 
remembered the text of Dr. Chalmers's sermon six months 
before in opening the Convocation, — 'Unto the upright 
light shall arise in the darkness.' And at the family 
worship of those memorable evenings, such psalms as the 
124th and 126th were often sung, and were felt to be 
' new songs.' It would be pleasant to dwell upon many 
of the features of the Tree Church Assemblies, especially 
on those deputations and messages of sympathy and con- 
gratulation which they received from so many churches, 



THE DEED OF DEMISSION. 



225 



and on those tributes of approbation and encouragement 
which, coming in from so many quarters, made them re- 
cognise the good hand of the Lord upon them. But we 
have only room to state that Tuesday, the 23d of May, 
was, after special devotional exercises, employed in sub- 
scribing the 1 Act of Separation and Deed of Demission,' 
by which 470 ministers did 'separate from, and abandon 
the present subsisting ecclesiastical establishment 
in Scotland, and renounce all rights or emoluments 
pertaining to them by virtue thereof/ " 

"Though subscribed with the utmost calmness and 
alacrity, it would not be easy to estimate the sacrifice 
which that Deed of Demission implied. It is something 
to renounce the dignity of an Established Church, and the 
comforts of an endowed one. These ministers did both ; 
and some will best understand the sacrifice, when told that 
the gift thus laid on the altar is a revenue of more than 

A HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS A YEAR. But this is a Very 

gross and vulgar way of stating it. For who shall estimate 
in pounds and pence the home-ties which have since been 
broken ? Who shall put a price upon those hallowed 
recollections which cluster round every manse and church 
— all the more tender and manifold in proportion as a man 
of God was the presiding spirit there — round the manse 
where infancy was cradled, and childhood made merry, 
and opening youth first learned to tread with thoughtful 
and meditative step — the country manse, on whose roof- 
tree rested the blessing of many a passer-by, and from 
whose quiet chambers ascended, heard by God alone, the 
prayer of the pious wayfarer, turned aside to tarry for a 



226 



FAMILY WORSHIP IN EDINBURGH 



night, and through whose study windows streamed at 
winter's early morn the radiance of his lamp, who, like 
his Master, had risen up a great while before the dawn to 
meditate and pray ? " 

Such was the form which this important act assumed. 
T vVhat followed is matter of general history, and cannot be 
recorded in the memoir of an individual. Suffice it to 
say, that from its beginning the Free Church has ad- 
vanced with astonishing rapidity and solidness. Every 
season a step is gained ; and every step that is gained is 
held ; till now, our experience has done much to supply 
reasons and data for the greatest revolution in imperial 
policy which this age has witnessed. 

Many a " church in the house " assembled within the 
city of Edinburgh, on the evening of that memorable day, 
to praise the Lord for His goodness. It was under the 
roof of the late James Bonar, W.S., brother of the three 
ministers of that name, that James Hamilton happened to 
be a worshipper. Called to conduct the devotions of the 
family, after they had fully conversed together on the 
great events of the day, he adopted a characteristic and 
somewhat startling method of signalizing the crisis. In- 
stead of comment suitable to the occasion on a portion 
of the Scriptures, he quietly interpolated a large addition 
to the text. Having announced the Eleventh Chapter 
of the Epistle to the Hebrews as the portion chosen, he 
read, in his usual method, marked more by intelligence and 
reverence and tenderness than by artistic elocution, from 
the beginning onward, through the heraldic roll of ancient 
worthies to its termination at the thirty-second verse, and 



ON THE EVENING OF THE DISRUPTION. 227 

without pause or change of tone prolonged the list, intro- 
ducing in rapid succession the leading and representative 
names of early confessors, reformers, and missionaries, 
closing with Thomas Chalmers, the beloved leader of our 
own accomplished exodus. Without a word more, at the 
conclusion of the list, he bent the knee, and led the 
devotions of the company. According to the competent 
testimony of one who was present, the Eev. Mr. For- 
dyce of Cardiff, it was a season of joy and enlarge- 
ment. The hearts of those disciples burned within 
them, because they felt that the Lord was with them by 
the way. 

Immediately after his return we find him engaged with 
all his heart in some of the great Christian reunions of 
the metropolis. 

"11 Fortiss Terrace, June 2, 1843. 

"My deae Mr. H. — The Union meeting yesterday was 
perhaps the most successful religious meeting ever held in 
London. The crowd was awful. The doors were opened 
at 8 A.M., and the hall was instantly filled. The lower 
room was then opened, and then Queen Street Chapel, — 
but though they were crowded, masses of people could 
gain admission nowhere. The solemnity and heart-melt- 
ing of the assembly, the praises and the prayers (much like 
those of the Free Assembly) betokened the Divine pre- 
sence, and I trust the good work has got an impulse 
which will not speedily be forgotten. I lost more than 
half of the addresses, for soon after giving my own, the 
heat and exhaustion were such that I had to come away. 

" In the evening I gave the first of a short course of 
lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland. Though 



228 RELATION OF THE CHURCHES IN ENGLAND 

it had only been announced from the pulpit, and not 
advertised, the body of the church was nearly fulL 

"I wish you would consult Mr. Dunlop regarding 
Regent Square. He has a copy of the trust-deed. As 
our Synod to all intents forms a separate Church (like the 
Ulster Assembly), I did not feel called upon to sign any 
adherence in Edinburgh, hoping that our Synod will give 
its sanction to the Free Church ecclesiastically. But still 
I am to all intents identified with the protesting party, 
and rather than give an equivocal adherence, would run 
any risks, and make any sacrifice ; and having been or- 
dained in Scotland, it is perhaps expected that I should 
do what other ordained ministers have done, formally 
adhere. What would become of the building in that 
event ? But even without a formal adherence, I should 
not wonder though the Moderate brethren should secede 
from us and declare themselves the Presbytery of London, 
in connexion with the Church of Scotland. From sundry 
hints and rumours, I think that Brown and Cumming 
contemplate a separation; and at the meeting of Pres- 
bytery on Tuesday se'nnight I expect some resolution. 
Should no change be effected in the interval, it is plain 
that the building will eventually be forfeited to the Eras- 
tian Church, probably on the first vacancy ; and I believe 
it would be easier to erect or buy a new place of worship 
during an incumbency than during a vacancy, and easier 
to raise £5000 to build a new church and school than the 
same sum to pay off the debt on the present one. On the 
other side, the temptation is strong to cling to the last to 
a fabric matchless in its kind, and which has been reared 



TO THE SCOTTISH ESTABLISHMENT. 



229 



at such, sacrifices. But then they have done the same in 
Scotland — witness St. George's, the Assembly Hall, the 
new churches. These are some of the cogitations which 
are often passing through my mind at present, and will 
prove at least that I am considerably in the dark." . . . 

" 7 Lansdowxe Place, June 14, 1843. 

" My deae Me. Hamilton, — Yesterday the Presbytery 
met. Blair in the chair. After sundry matters of busi- 
ness had been harmoniously settled, the call from Com- 
mercial Eoad came on. The Moderator (who had evidently 
received his instructions) said, — ■ Mr. Ferguson, in the 
name of the Presbytery of London, in connexion with the 
Established Church of Scotland, I ask you if you accept this 
call ? ' Mr. Ferguson said, — ' I accept the call to be minis- 
ter of that church/ Whereupon Mr. Burns, seconded by Dr. 
Brown, moved that the Presbytery proceed with the settle- 
ment on Thursday, the 29th. This was agreed to, and 
Mr. Lorimer was appointed to preside at the induction. 
Mr. Lorimer said, — £ I have a question to ask, Do the words 
"Established order," etc., in the questions and formula 
recognise the Church of Scotland as by law established ? 
for if they do, I cannot conscientiously preside on this 
occasion.' The Moderates answered, — ' Of course. You are 
to induct Mr. Ferguson into the Established Church of Scot- 
land. You cannot admit him into this Presbytery without 
admitting him into the Church of Scotland as by law estab- 
lished.' I held — (1.) that the formula did not recognise the 
Church presently established, and (2.) that admission into 
this Presbytery did not recognise that Church, for most of 
us were only waiting, in the altered circumstances of that 



230 DISRUPTION IN THE PRESBYTERY. 



Establishment, till our ecclesiastical superior, the Synod, 
should erase from its title any recognition of that Church. 
However, as it was very plain that they meant to make a 
sinistrous use of the present designation of the Presbytery, 
it might simplify matters to alter it at once, which we 
were quite competent to do, the Presbytery having existed 
as a Presbytery before it entered into connexion with the 
Church of Scotland. It was accordingly moved, — 'That 
the words " in connexion with the Established Church of 
Scotland " be henceforth omitted in the designation of the 
Presbytery/ The Moderator refused to put the motion, as 
being revolutionary and imcompetent ; whereupon it was 
moved that the Moderator having refused to discharge his 
duty, has lost the confidence of the Presbytery, and that 
Mr. Lorimer be appointed Moderator in his stead ; which 
motion was put by the Clerk, and carried, the Moderator 
not voting. This disconcerted the enemy a little, and, in 
a sort of panic, Blair declared the Presbytery adjourned, 
and amidst much outcry of the audience against its pro- 
fanity, pronounced the blessing, on which the four minis- 
ters, with Stewart and Mcolson, elders, marched out, and 
Kay and the Woolwich elder, Eutherford, retired from the 
table. Their departure elicited a burst of hissing and 
derisive cheers from the audience, which was considerable. 
When they were gone, and our own Moderator in the 
chair, after prayer, the business again proceeded. The 
motion to erase the words 'in connexion/ etc., was harmoni- 
ously agreed to, and after some further business the Pres- 
bytery adjourned. We had thirty-four at the Presbytery 
dinner, and far the happiest evening we have spent there. 



RIGHT OF PROPERTY IN THE CHURCH. 231 



, . . The Moderates, before adjourning, forgot to fix a day 
and place for their next meeting, so that they are presby- 
terially defunct. Though my own wish was to stave this 
disruption off for a time, now that it is over, every one 
feels relieved and lightened. Our way was ' fenced with 
thorns/ so that we had no alternative. J. H." 

Thus the great central convulsion which took place at 
Edinburgh in May produced successive waves at later 
dates, in England and throughout the Colonies, wherever 
the Church of Scotland had put forth her efforts and 
planted her roots. Thus the Disruption repeated itself in 
miniature in the Presbytery of London. The greatest 
danger to be apprehended in that quarter was lest the 
adherents of the Establishment should succeed in wrench- 
ing the National Scotch Church in Eegent Square from 
those who had reared it at great cost, and were attached 
to it by many solemn memories. The attention of the 
minister and session was immediately directed to the 
threatened point. In the first instance they evaded the 
danger, and ultimately escaped it altogether. In this case 
a debt of £5000 adhering to the fabric turned out a bless- 
ing in disguise. Although the structure, which had cost 
in all £21,000, was at that period worth much more in the 
market than the amount of the debt ; yet that amount was 
sufficient in the first instance to paralyse the arm of those 
who might possibly have made good the claim to the pro- 
perty in a court of law. 

In reference to the incidental benefit which the burden 
conferred, Dr. Hamilton, at a later date, when a question 



232 THE PROPERTY SECURED TO THE CONGREGATION. 

was raised regarding debt on churches generally, whether 
its effect is salutary or adverse, made a happy discrimina- 
tion, which deserves to be recorded. It is good, he said, 
to have a debt attached to the building as long as the 
weight is needed to prevent the Establishment from 
snatching the property. It is like laying a great stone 
upon a man during a gale to prevent him from being 
blown away ; but when the gale is over, it will conduce to 
the man's comfort to remove the stone. He will breathe 
more freely ; he will even be able to rise and walk about. 

Besides the mainstay of the debt, there were certain 
other anchors which helped the owners to make good their 
hold. In the constitution of the trust, the main or only 
link that bound the property to the Established Church of 
Scotland consisted of a condition that the minister must 
be ordained to his office by one of the Presbyteries of the 
Scottish Church. This condition had been fulfilled ; and 
it was doubtful whether the subsequent adherence of the 
minister to the principles of the Free Church could be held 
as a positive infringement during his incumbency. It is 
believed that, if Mr. Hamilton had been removed at that 
time, it might have been successfully maintained that no 
successor could be appointed unless ordained in Scotland 
by the legally acknowledged courts. 

It has further been thought — but this being only private 
conjecture, and not established fact, must be taken for no 
more than it is worth — that, as an able and influential 
minister adhering to the Scottish Establishment in London, 
not having been ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, 
could never have legally become himself the incumbent of 



LAW AND EQUITY. 



233 



Eegent Square, he may not have been zealous in asserting 
the claims of the Establishment to the property, and so 
placing another in this important and conspicuous posi- 
tion. It is not impossible, and not discreditable, that such 
views should have been entertained. 

Through these and other causes the owners were left in 
undisturbed possession of their property, till, as we shall 
find at a subsequent stage of our narrative, an opportunity 
occurred of placing it on a permanent and sure foundation. 

The advisers of the Church of Scotland, as by law estab- 
lished, have from that day till now thought it their duty 
to seize every church and school which could be legally 
claimed by that corporation as now constituted, whatever 
might be the aspect of the case in equity. Of late some 
examples have occurred which inflict such hardship on the 
one side and bring so much scandal on the other, that the 
judges, while obliged to decide in favour of the pursuers 
according to the technicalities of law, could not refrain 
from expressing publicly their regret that ever such deci- 
sion was demanded at their hands. 1 Probably the next 
generation of Churchmen will be wiser than the last. A 
certain teacher, who is said to ground his scholars well, 
but to charge a high fee, will undertake their education. 
They will discover that old parchments will not avail to 
maintain an Establishment that has drifted away from 
the principles of a nobler past. "When law and justice are 
rent asunder, the national will and the Imperial Parlia- 
ment may perhaps bring the divorced pair together again. 

1 Case of St. John's, Leith. 



CHAPTER VI. 



1843-1846. 

"Dalblair House, 8th Sept. 1843, 
Ayrshire (Mr. Gillespie's). 

" A month of recreation is ending, and it has served the 
purpose for which I sought it. I feel stronger in body ; 
and the time has passed, on the whole, pleasantly. Here 
I have experienced remarkable kindness from Mrs. Gil- 
lespie ; and a few days spent at Dunoon Castle passed 
most pleasantly in the society of Mrs. Eglinton and her 
sister, — one in whom religion wears its loveliest form, 
and breathes its sweetest spirit. The mercies of this 
sojourn in Scotland are — 

" 1. Increase of strength. 

" 2. Kindness of friends, Mr. Buchanan, Mrs. Gillespie, 
Mrs. Eglinton. In this respect no minister is perhaps so 
favoured. How many homes I have, — besides the above, 
Willenhall, Mr. Hamilton's, Walthamstow, now Clapton, 
and my uncle's, Mr. Alexander Hamilton's house, the 
whole summer at Kentishtown. 

"3. Edifying society — Dr. Mackay, Miss Low, Steven- 
son, Mrs. Wodrow, Mr. Landsborough. 

" Had my brother Andrew with me ; and met William, 



DR. GUTHRIE INVITED TO LONDON. 



235 



who has now got a unanimous call to the Free Church of 
Stonehouse, and labours with much acceptance. Besides 
preaching at Stonehouse and Dunoon, and writing two 
papers on the Disruption for America, and some letters, 
etc., have done no work. 

Besolutions. 

" 1. Avoid frivolity. Tell no undignified anecdotes, and 
engage in no conversation unworthy of a minister. 

" 2. Give this winter to Eegent Square. Form as few 
extrinsic engagements as possible. 

" 3. Be the minister — the ambassador for Christ where- 
ever I go." 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, Oct. 13, 1843. 
" My dear Me. Hamilton, — Since I heard the news of 
Wednesday morning, I, like yourself and others, have felt 
exceedingly disheartened in regard to further proceedings 
for the extension of our cause in London, so much so that 
I have not finished the prospectus of the newspaper. 
Whether these discouragements are an intimation of God's 
providential will, or whether they be temptations of the 
Adversary, permitted to try our faith and patience, I cannot 
at this moment say. From what Mr. Burns's sister said 
to my mother, I should think it easy to prevail on Mr. 
Guthrie to come to London. If he, or such as he, were 
here, it would be worth while proceeding with the news- 
paper, church extension, etc. ; and perhaps it might be 
worth while at to-morrow's meeting to consider if a strong 
application should not be made to him directly. He knows 
London and our case, and his answer would perhaps throw 



236 



ME. WILLIAM CHALMEES. 



light on our future course of duty. Something should be 
done to bring the matter to a bearing, for unless we are 
to get one or two first-rate ministers from Scotland, all 
further labour in the cause of the Free Church in London 
will be labour thrown away. Mr. Guthrie in London, 
would be a mine of wealth to our friends in the north for 
the next two or three years, and would be the cheapest and 
most effective deputation they could send to England." 

The reference here is to Dr. Guthrie of Edinburgh. An 
effort was made at that time to induce him to settle in 
London. At various periods strong appeals were made to 
the Free Church to send some of her experienced ministers 
to the metropolis. They were never to any great extent 
successful. Whether in this matter the church in Scot- 
land acted wisely it would be difficult to determine. The 
reasons were strong on both sides. The ablest ministers 
were greatly needed in the south ; but they were greatly 
needed too at home. Some think the Presbyterian Church 
would have strengthened herself by striking more boldly 
out ; others believe she did better by fully manning the 
centre in Scotland. The Assembly did not feel itself strong 
enough to take the decision into its own hand ; and, in 
most cases, when the responsibility was left with the 
minister who received the call, he was obliged, in want of 
commanding reasons for removal, to decide in favour of the 
sphere which he already occupied. 

About this time, however, a young minister of great 
talent was induced to accept a metropolitan charge in 
Marylebone, Mr. William Chalmers, minister of Dailly, 



"REMINISCENCES OF MR. M'CHEYNE. 



237 



in Ayrshire. After serving the cause for five-and-twenty 
years as minister of a congregation, he now fills a chair 
in the theological college of the English Presbyterian 
Church. 

TO EEV. A. BONAR, COLLACE. 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, Nov. 1, 1843. 
" My dear Brother, — This is the week of our Eegent 
Square Communion, and so many recollections of Bobert 
M'Cheyne are called up by the return of this season, that 
I find it easier to fulfil your old request, and set down 
anything I can remember, than to do aught else at present. 
The first time I saw him was when a student at Edinburgh, 
about six years ago. He preached in St. Luke's, on the 
morning of a sacramental Fast, but I remember nothing of 
the sermon except his quoting that saying of one of our 
worthies : — ' Lord, stay Thy hand, for Thy puir servant is 
but an earthen vessel, and can hold no more/ I did not 
like his voice ; for, before I knew himself, I thought its 
r"ow and almost singing cadence, affectation, and besides 
I was too cold-hearted to have much relish for what he 
said. He himself did not like to preach in Edinburgh. 
He thought it the most ' decent' town in the kingdom, and 
therefore one on which it was difficult to produce much 
impression. Next winter, when excessive work had 
weakened his health and laid him aside, I met him once 
or twice at Dr. Candlish's ; and it was there I began to 
love him. When he returned from Palestine to St. Peter's, 
on the 5th Nov. 1839, along with Eobert Macdonald, and 
one or two others, I was present, and heard his address 



238 REMINISCENCES OF ME. M'CHEYNE. 



to the multitudinous assembly which, crowded his church 
that evening. His subject was 1 Cor. ii. 1-5. Some were 
disappointed that he did not say a word about his pilgri- 
mage to the Holy Land. But his great anxiety was that 
his people would turn their faces Zionwards; and not 
knowing how long his present convalescence might last he 
was the more urgent. His discourse had the desired 
result in the case of at least one hearer, who had withstood 
all the singular influences of the preceding revival, but 
who that night began to flee from the wrath to come. 
When the congregation dismissed, the street was so crowded 
with people pressing round him to get a grasp of his hand, 
that, weak as he was at any rate, he was nearly exhausted 
before we dragged him through to his own house. After 
this I remained at Abernyte twelve months, and saw him 
very often. . . . 

" It was pleasant to preach in St. Peter's Church. The 
children on the pulpit stairs, the prayers in the vestry, the 
solemn and often crowded auditory, the sincerity of all the 
worship, and the often-felt presence of God, made it like 
few other sanctuaries. It was only on week- evenings that 
I was ever there, but perhaps they were more remarkable 
than even the Sabbaths. In one of his notes Mr. M'Cheyne 
says, — 1 The Thursday meetings are dear to me. They will 
doubtless be remembered in eternity with songs of praise.' 
One reason for the peculiar blessing which rested on them 
was the happy freedom which they gave the minister. 
He could then descend from the stateliness of sermons to 
the most familiar and affectionate and varied addresses ; 
and as members of other congregations could attend them, 



REMINISCENCES OF MR. M'CHEYNE. 239 

the benefit was widely diffused. So sensible was Mr. 
M'Cheyne of the special presence of the Spirit in his 
ministry in St. Peter's, that I remember, when leaving 
Abernyte, he said to me, ' I would beg my bread to get 
preaching in Dundee/ Notwithstanding this his ministry 
had its trials. The greatest of these was the carnality of 
Christians, ' some saying, I am of Paul, and others, I of 
Apollos.' On his return from Palestine, he found many 
for whom he had formerly longed in the bowels of Christ 
awakened or brought to Christ by the messages of that 
dear brother who supplied his absence. These almost 
deprecated an event which would supersede the man who 
who had been to them as an angel of God, and they scarcely 
concealed their disappointment at their own pastor's arrival. 
However, through the meekness and magnanimity afforded 
to himself and Mr. Burns, the trial passed away. Once 
that we were speaking of idols, he said, ' My congregation 
was my idol, I used to think that there was no people like 
them in the world. But what happened after my return 
has made me see that I must seek other souls besides those 
in St. Peter's.' He was with us at this time last year." . . . 

" London, Feb. 5, 1844. 

" My deae William, — Yesterday was our father's birth- 
day ; and next April it will be twenty years since he made 
his only pilgrimage to London. It is rather remarkable 
that this year I should be engaged to preach three of the 
anniversary sermons — for the London Missionary, the 
Wesleyan Missionary, and the Christian Instruction 
Societies. At that time we were little shavers, floating 



240 PASTORAL WORK AND LITERARY PROJECTS. 



our cocoa-shell boats in the burn below the bridge ; read- 
ing a good deal withal, but little dreaming where we should 
be this day. 

" Nothing in your letter delighted me more than your 
affection for your people. Without this there can be no 
eminent success. I never felt more love to my people as 
a people than yesterday. I had a great desire to give 
myself entirely to them ; to the cultivation of their friend- 
ship, and pastoral labours among them. We really abound 
in interesting members. But, alas ! my sighs after pastoral 
labour are very abortive. This week I already know of 
nine meetings of different sorts which I must attend. Then 
comes the deputation from Scotland ; then public sermons 
and missionary meetings in Bristol and Manchester ; then 
the May meetings, etc. 

"There is one thing for which I long to get a little 
leisure. My impression is that I might be more useful 
with the pen than in preaching. I have the idea of two 
or three little publications, for which I have all the 
materials in some shape or other, but not the pubhshing 
shape. Nothing which I have written could be printed 
without my own revision ; but some things are in such a 
state that a few days would make them readable. 

"However, more especially since I have committed 
myself to a lecture on New Testament biography every 
Thursday evening, it is all I can do to prepare three dis- 
courses in the week, without ever looking back to what is 
over and gone. — Yours most affectionately, 

"James Hamilton." 



MEMOIR OF ROBERT M f CHEYNE. 241 



TO EEV. ANDREW BONAR. 

" 7 Laxsdowne Place, April 13, 1844. 

" My dear Brother, — It was only on Wednesday night, 
returning from a week of preaching in Manchester, that I 
found the precious volumes awaiting me. They have 
occupied all my spare moments, and I fear some others, 
since I have had the Memoir. It was not possible for 
anything to be more truthful, or more edifying. The only 
thing which I felt wanting is that which no book can 
preserve, the atmosphere which used to fill St. Peter's, and 
surround himself. Perhaps a little more might have been 
added to convey to the reader an idea of the Bethel-like 
sacredness of Sabbaths and communions in that church, 
as well as the peculiar impression of ' God is here 1 diffused 
around his person, and through his dwelling. However, I 
am perhaps only wishing that his biographer could have 
made him rise from the dead, for the facts supplied could 
scarcely have been more minute and characteristic, or the 
delineation more felicitous. And certainly the great end 
has been attained of teaching the reader where all his 
well-springs lay. It will, I trust, be widely read in Eng- 
land, and is wonderfully fitted to quicken ministers. 
Truly the Lord has guided you with His eye. May you 
hear of many souls to whom it is made a blessing. — Yours 
with much affection, James Hamilton." 

"April 14, 1844. — It is nine years this day since my 
dear father closed his ministry, and preached his last 
sermon. 

" I was then a student in the first year of my theological 

Q 



242 



REMEMBERING MERCIES. 



course, and felt very helpless and desolate when I found 
that I was really fatherless. The Lord took me up, and 
by a way which I knew not, from Strathblane by Easter- 
house, Edinburgh, Abernyte, Eoxburgh Chapel, He has 
brought us here. Of how many mercies I could sing if 
mine were a singing heart ; but the chiefest is that whilst 
the Lord has taken my dear father to his rest, I trust he 
has guided all of us who remain into that road which leads 
to it. I have the same persuasion regarding the two who 
are not. There was more than intelligence in Elizabeth ; 
more than sweetness in Mary. I believe there was the 
Spirit's transforming work in both. I believe that our 
parents devoted all of us to God ; and we can never be 
sufficiently grateful for our father's fervent prayers, his 
occasional affecting exhortations, his wisdom, and, above 
all, his holy and elevated walk ; our mother's kind and 
careful upbringing, and our Aunt Elizabeth's lovely ex- 
emplification of the meek and quiet and gentle graces. 

" I have been thinking seriously this afternoon of my 
position in the Church of Christ. I wish to ascertain, as 
far as the word and providence and the Spirit may give 
light, how I may most efficiently serve my blessed Master 
during the little time that I may continue here. I have 
some advantages for ministerial usefulness. 

" 1. An attached congregation, with many shining Chris- 
tians, many congenial friends, and several liberal pro- 
moters of schemes of usefulness, among them. 

" 2. A kirk-session containing wise and devoted elders, 
and active willing- hearted deacons, — office-bearers to 
whom the people look up with affection and respect. 



TALENTS INTRUSTED. 



243 



" 3. Some miscellaneous information, which all ministers 
have not been able to acquire. Owing to the extent and 
variety of my father's library, and having an hereditary 
taste for books, I read a great deal before I was licensed. 
And as my father's circumstances enabled me to give 
myself wholly to the business of college, without the dis- 
traction of private teaching, I got attending such classes 
as astronomy, natural history, botany, chemistry (twice), 
not included in the usual course. To which may be added 
some facility in writing, partly attained by early practice 
and partly by the abundant perusal of the classics, having 
read nearly all the pure Greek and Latin authors. 

" 4. The good-will of many ministers of different de- 
nominations, and the friendship of some of the most 
eminent. 

" 5. Owing to the circulation of the tracts, I find that 
my name is not unknown in many places where I have 
never been, and when I go to such places people are ready 
to come and hear me. 

" 6. The restraining grace of God has preserved my 
character. Had it not been for His preventing mercy I 
should have fallen into sins which must have proved for 
ever fatal to ministerial usefulness. IsTo doubt people's 
opinion regarding me will be very diverse, and my proud 
heart has sometimes been wounded by incidentally learn- 
ing what others thought of me. Still, I record with 
trembling thankfulness that hitherto I have been kept 
from those outbreakings of sin into which some brethren 
whose hearts were no worse than mine have been suffered 
to fall, and some of them (I have reason to think) the 



244 



TALENTS ENTRUSTED. 



children of God. It is also a mercy that the view of 
ecclesiastical polity which I had previously adopted was 
one which I did not need to change at the recent Disrup- 
tion, for public consistency is no small part of ministerial 
character. 

" 7. I have no worldly cares. I am neither married nor 
engaged. I have my dear mother and sister taking charge 
of all household concerns. My mothers income and my 
stipend, ana the blessing of God, which has remarkably 
attended the former, secure us every comfort. "We want 
for no good thing. 

" These advantages I owe entirely to the grace of God. 
He gave me my father and my education. He brought 
me to Eegent Square. He has put all the kindness into 
the hearts of my beloved people. He enabled me co write 
the Cliurch in the House and the Dew of Hermon, and 
then found favour for them. And most especially, He 
has withheld me from those sins which, had I been left to 
myself, I should have committed, and which if I had com- 
mitted, I should have been constrained to hide my head, in- 
stead of appearing in the pulpit as an ambassador of Christ. 

" But seeing that the Lord has not only put me into 
the ministry, but given me these advantages for prose- 
cuting it, the question is, — and this inquiry has prompted 
me to take up the pen, — how shall I employ these most 
effectually in His best and dearest service ? The realiza- 
tion of my position has impressed me this afternoon with 
feelings of solemnity and responsibility. Truly there is 
an open door, and, if health and life be spared, something 
may be effected for the hallowing of the Father's name, 



HOW THE TALENTS MAY BE EMPLOYED. 245 

and the furtherance of Christ's kingdom. What is it ? 
In my situation, and with such talents as the Lord has 
intrusted to me, what is it that I can best do for carrying 
forward the great work which brought the Son of God 
from heaven to earth ? My impression is, that one of the 
greatest services which could be rendered to the cause of 
Christ is the elevation of Christian, and especially of mini- 
sterial, character. 

"I see plainly that few Christians are as happy in 
Christ and as fruitful as they might be. I am hopeful 
that a more elevated ministry and a more exemplary 
Church might have an unprecedented influence on a care- 
less world. I am sure that in such a Church, and with 
such a ministry, the Father would be glorified. 

" 1. I must begin with myself. Oh that I were an 
exemplary Christian ! Lord, give me a simple faith, a firm 
assurance, an outlooking eye ever fixed on the Lamb of 
God ! Fill me with the Spirit. Let the Word dwell in 
me richly, and shine through me conspicuously. Free me 
from the besetting sins hereafter enumerated. Lift me 
up to a new level of faith and fervour and devotedness, 
and let me never come down again. 

" 2. My own congregation. I will not resolve, but pray 
to see Eegent Square a pattern church, full of lively, 
humble, self- spending, Christ-exalting, prayerful, and 
praising members. 

" 3. My brethren of the Presbytery and Synod. I have 
little availed myself of their kindness, and our intercourse 
for high and God-glorifying ends; and occasional feeble 
efforts in that direction have been countervailed by num- 



246 



"THE dew of hekmon." 



berless incongruities. More might be done to make our 
body a blessing in the land. Judges vi. 15. 

" 4. The Church of Christ at large. By occasional ser- 
mons, publications, personal intercourse, something might 
be done towards reviving religion, and raising the stan- 
dard of practical piety." 

The Dew of Hermon, a tract on Christian union, had been 
lately published. He could not but observe that it was 
widely circulated and greatly appreciated. Thereupon he 
gladly ascribes it to the grace of God that he was enabled 
to cast this contribution into the Lord's treasury. 

The conclusion of this tract, suggested by his own 
observation at the sea-side during a brief residence in the 
family of Mr. Gillespie, may be here represented as a 
specimen of the manner in which he was wont to trace 
the parallels between nature and grace : — 

" We end as we began. Heaven is the abode of unity, 
and when the spirit of unity comes into a soul or into a 
church, it cometh from above. The Comforter brings it 
down. Discord is of the earth, or from beneath. The 
divisions of Christians show that there is still much 
carnality amongst them. The more carnal a Christian is, 
the more sectarian will he be ; and the more spiritual he 
is, the more loving and forbearing and self-renouncing are 
you sure to find him. And it is with Christian communi- 
ties as with individual Christians. When the tide is out, 
you may have noticed, as you rambled among the rocks, 
little pools with little fishes in them. To the shrimp in 
such a pool his foot- depth of salt water is all the ocean for 
the time being. He has no dealings with his neighbour 



CHRISTIAN UNION. 



247 



shrimp in the adjacent pool, though it may be only a few 
inches of sand that divide them. But when the rising 
ocean begins to lip over the margin of his lurking-place, 
one pool joins another, their various tenants meet, and 
by-and-bye, in place of their little patch of standing water, 
they have the ocean's boundless fields to roam in. When 
the tide is out — when religion is low — the faithful are to 
be found insulated, here a few and there a few, in the little 
standing pools that stud the beach, having no dealings 
with their neighbours of the adjoining pools, calling them 
Samaritans, and fancying that their own little communion 
includes all that are precious in God's sight. They forget 
for a time that there is a vast and expansive ocean rising 
— every ripple, every reflux, brings it nearer — a mightier 
communion, even the communion of saints, which is to 
engulf all minor considerations, and to enable the fishes 
of all pools, the Christians, the Christ-lovers of all deno- 
minations, to come together. When, like a flood, the Spirit 
flows into the churches, church will join to church, and 
saint will join to saint, and all will rejoice to find that if 
their little pools have perished it is not by the scorching 
summer's drought, nor the casting in of earthly rubbish, 
but by the influx of that boundless sea whose glad waters 
touch eternity, and in whose ample depths the saints in 
heaven as well as the saints on earth have room enough 
to range. Yes, our churches are the standing pools along 
the beach, with just enough of their peculiar element to 
keep the few inmates living during this ebb-tide period of 
the church's history. But they form a very little fellowship, 
the largest is but little ; yet is there steadily flowing in a 



248 



CHRISTIAN UNION. 



tide of universal life and love, which, as it lips in over the 
margin of the little pool, will stir its inhabitants with an 
unwonted vivacity, and then let them loose in the large 
range of the Spirit's own communion. Happy church! 
furthest down upon the strand ! nearest the rising ocean's 
edge ! Happy church ! whose sectarianism shall first be 
swept away in this inundation of love and joy ! — whose 
communion shall first break forth into that purest and 
holiest, and yet most comprehensive of all communions — 
the communion of the Holy Ghost ! Would to God that 
church were ours !" 

It is well worthy of notice too, in connexion with the 
last extract from his journal, that after enumerating with 
great exactness the privileges he had enjoyed, the talents 
with which he had been intrusted, the resolution regarding 
duty which results from the survey, is to commend Christ 
not by his books, but by his life. Literary work is viewed 
as a secondary matter; the direct aim is a higher and 
holier walk. In this matter the promise, " Seek, and ye 
shall find," was fulfilled in his experience. That which he 
ardently sought he did in some good measure attain. In 
his walk and conversation many read to their own profit, 
an epistle of Jesus Christ. 

It may also be observed from this portion of his experi- 
ence, for the reproof of a presumptuous indolence, that the 
habitual hopefulness and happiness that were exhibited 
in his character, and which seemed to flow naturally as 
a feature of his constitution, were graces which he gravely 
judged necessary in the Christian life — which, accordingly, 
he strove and prayed for, and so obtained. 



THE SYNOD. 



249 



"April 22, 1844— On Monday last set out to attend 
our Synod at Berwick. On the railway employed with 
E. M'Cheyne's Sermons, Brainerd's Diary, and John xiv. 
A happy day. 

" The Synod elected Dr. James Buchanan their Professor 
of Divinity, and sent Mr. W. Hamilton and me to Edin- 
burgh to wait on him and solicit his acceptance. That 
day, Wednesday, I was very ill, suffering much pain in 
back and left side, so glad to get away. Found Dr. B. 
was at Paisley. Followed him, and found that he had 
gone back to Edinburgh. Saw him on Friday, and satis- 
factory interview. 

" Eeached Birmingham at midnight of Saturday, stayed 
there all Sabbath. Heard Mr. Lorimer." 

" WlLLENHALL, Jul]) 4, 1844. 

" My dear "William, — ... I very much fear lest this 
sort of life put an end to epistolary correspondence. Spend- 
ing the last two days, and sometimes the last three days 
of the week at Willenhall, saves a good deal of uninter- 
rupted time ; and I find the leisurely dinner-hour and the 
quiet evening walk, and Mrs. Moore's conversation and 
the children's company, a restorative to mind and body. 
But as study in town is more and more out of the ques- 
tion, the time I am in this parlour is all spent in writing 
the sermon and lecture, especially the last. I have such 
delight in the Eomans, and I much hope that these lec- 
tures may be influential, not merely on the theological 
views, but the spiritual position of many of the hearers, 
that though I could get a whole week to meditate one 



250 



LITERARY EMPLOYMENTS. 



lecture, I would not think it too long. I am now at the 
tenth chapter, and hope to finish the eleventh, and so the 
doctrinal portion of the epistle, on or before the Com- 
munion Sabbath. To publish these lectures, as I have 
sometimes been asked to do, would be a very useless 
undertaking. But during some autumn holiday I may 
read them over, and mark the most interesting passages, 
and put them together in a connected form. f The righte - 
ousness of God' has, I think, been put more palpably, I 
hope more scripturally, than I remember reading in any 
book. Besides, I have many occasional things to write. 
One week lately, besides Sabbath preparation, I wrote the 
pastoral letter of our English Synod, a short circular for 
our Board of Missions, a review of E. M'Cheyne for the 
Presbyterian Magazine, and an article for the Free Church 
Magazine. The materials for the last two were mostly 
ready beforehand, but the revision and re-writing took 
nearly as much pains as fresh composition. This sort of 
writing incapacitates me for that delightful old-fashioned 
sort of letter which contained a journal of news and a 
budget of critical analecta, and a specimen of the whole 
man." 

At the close of this letter he has touched a point in 
which both the compiler and the readers of his biography 
have a deep interest. He casts a longing, lingering look 
after "the old-fashioned sort of letter" as a thing that 
must in the circumstances of modern society be left 
behind. As the change to which he alludes has a general 
bearing on the age, as well as a particular application to 



EFFECTS OF CHEAP POSTAGE. 



251 



his own experience, it will be of use to note its causes 
and consequences. 

From the date of his removal to London, his letters are 
not to so great an extent available for the elucidation of 
his character and work This is owing partly to causes 
that are public and common, partly to causes that are 
private and peculiar to himself. The change which took 
place about that period in the system of the Post-office, 
while it conferred, socially and commercially, an incal- 
culable boon on the community, acted, I am persuaded, 
very injuriously on the character of our correspondence as 
to its weight and permanent value. At a time when you 
could not transmit a letter from one part of the country 
to another without paying from sixpence to a shilling of 
postage, people of limited income did not .despatch one 
until a pressing necessity arose : and when they did make 
up their minds to the sacrifice, they naturally desired to 
obtain a good pennyworth, and so put a great deal of 
matter into one epistle. After it became possible to send 
a letter to any part of the United Kingdom for a penny, 
people wrote on less urgent business, and, as they could 
send another to-morrow, did not exert themselves to 
freight fully the present messenger with the compressed 
essence of all their best ideas. Thus the cheapening of 
the postage exercised an evil influence on the value of 
letters as the permanent record of contemporary history 
and thought. 

In our case this influence was greatly increased by the 
idiosyncrasies of the individual. A vast quantity of mis- 
cellaneous business was thrown upon his hands. He 



252 



A MULTITUDE OF LETTERS. 



undertook heroically all that by great exertion and great 
facility he was able to perform. Thus placed under high- 
pressure, he threw off letters from week to week, and from 
year to year, in very great quantities. He seemed indeed 
to shed them as trees shed their leaves in autumn, but the 
necessary consequence was that comparatively few traces 
of his genius appear in the letters of those busy years. 
They bear marks, not indeed of hurry — for all are clearly 
legible and easily understood — but of pressure. Each 
missive tells its tale in the shortest space, and then gently 
closes, to make room for the next. You seldom see any 
symptom of leisure or repose. There is never the delicious 
outpouring of a gifted mind who has set himself to warble 
out his thoughts to you, with nothing else in hand or m 
view. His chosen sphere was a life of activity ; from that 
choice the Church and the country have reaped substantial 
benefit ; but the readers of his memoir need not expect to 
find in his private letters the best strength and beauty of 
his mind. It has been the duty of the biographer to read 
a great multitude of James Hamilton's letters, each occu- 
pied with some plain practical work of benevolence, which 
do not claim, and would not justify, insertion in a public 
and permanent record. The impression left by the perusal 
of the mass enhances the estimate of the writer's life, as a 
talent devoted with singular energy to the service of God 
and the good of man ; but the individual letters, in that 
elegant and well-remembered handwriting, must for the 
most part be allowed, like the leaves of autumn, to drop 
undistinguished into the dust. 



DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING MINISTERS. 253 



" Willenhall, Sept. 6, 1844. 

" My dear Mr. Hamilton, — Immediately on receiving 
yours to-day, I wrote a long letter to Dr. Hetherington, 
putting the case for London Wall as strongly as I could, 
and enclosed it to Mr. Marshall, marking it ' Private — to 
be forwarded.' I have seldom been more surprised or dis- 
mayed at anything than at the threatened opposition to 
Mr. Nicolson's translation. It is virtually sayirg that no 
minister, however inconspicuous his position, and however 
little the Church may need his services ecclesiastically, can 
be spared to English Presbyterianism. I told Dr. Hether- 
ington that so disheartened were the London Wall people 
by the elopement of two successive ministers, and by the 
frustration hitherto of their efforts to obtain a pastor, that 
I was not sure but that the Free Church Presbytery of St. 
Andrews might have the power of shutting up the oldest 
Presbyterian Church in London/' 

TO HIS SISTER. 

"Willenhall, Nov. 9, 1844. 
" My dear Jeanie, — . . . Our Communion was a de- 
lightful one. The text was out of William's favourite 
book, the Song, v. 16, 'This is my Beloved, and my 
Friend.' Some careless hearers were much impressed, 
and I heard of one young man who, I hope, was truly 
awakened. He was an infidel, but brought out that morn- 
ing by a friend, and so deeply affected that he stayed all the 
time, and on Monday evening took a seat for himself. I 
believe he had not been in church for years. . . . 

"J. H." 



254 



ORIGIN OF " LIFE IN EARNEST." 



" Willexhall, Dec. 7, 1844. 
" My dear J ane, — ... I have revised for separate 
publication the Introductory Lecture. The misprintings 
of the Witness, rather than the fault of Mr. Jas. Stewart, 
the reporter, made this desirable, though there had been 
no other reason. Mrs. Moore showed me the other day 
two sermons in a "Wesley an newspaper, purporting to be 
notes of two discourses of mine. The errors were so thick- 
set, so ludicrous and nonsensical, that I could not get 
through a column ; but the report, such as it is, confirmed 
my resolution to print six lectures on Rom. xii. 11, of 
which these formed two. They will likely come out in 
a small 18mo, and I mean to send a copy to each family 
of the congregation as a New- Year's gift. . . . 

"J. II." 

The lecture was introductory to a course on pastoral 
theology to the students of the English Presbyterian 
College. Loyally he had undertaken, in addition to his 
other labours, the temporary charge of this class, until the 
Church should succeed in obtaining a permanent pro- 
fessor. 

The reader will observe with interest in this brief letter 
the natural history of Life in Earnest, one of the most 
popular and most useful of his publications. The sub- 
stance of that book had been addressed to his own con- 
gregation in six lectures, in a course on the Epistle to the 
Eomans. Two of these inadequately reported had ap- 
peared without his knowledge or sanction in a religious 
newspaper. The blunders grated so harshly on Ms senses 



TALE OF WORK. 



255 



that lie determined, in self-defence, to publish the whole 
six. To protect himself against the incorrect representa- 
tion was of course not the real reason, hut became the 
incidental occasion of the publication. The Church in this 
case has cause to rejoice over the blunders of an unskilful 
reporter, for the authorized version has done noble service 
in the work of the kingdom both at home and in America. 
The circulation was very great, and many notices of its 
usefulness occur in the course of his correspondence. 

" January 1845. — During the year 1844 I preached 124 
times, of which, I think, 5 7 occasions were not in Be gent 
Square, besides speaking at 6 public meetings (Exeter Hall 
and Manchester), and sundry breakfasts and soirees. 

Preached 124 times. 

Paid 492 visits. 

Eeceived 1112 visitors. 

Wrote 855 letters. 

Studied 1254 hours. 

Eead 21 volumes, or 9010 pages. 
Attended Synod, Commission of Synod, 19 Presbyteries, 
119 miscellaneous meetings and committees, etc., 20 kirk 
sessions, 7 8 meetings connected with congregation. 

"Journeys. — To Edinburgh by Berwick ; to Bristol; to 
Manchester ; thrice to Brighton ; to Ipswich, besides plea- 
sure trips to Eyde, through Kent, to Brighton. 

" Published. — Sermon on Thankfulness ; sermon in 
pulpit ; sermon in Free Church pulpit ; Beview of B. 
M'Cheyne in Presbyterian Review ; two papers on Sacred 
Poets in Free Church Magazine ; Life in Earnest ; Lec- 
ture Introductory to Pastoral Theology ; besides writing a 



256 



" LIFE IN EARNEST." 



Eeport on Free Church Mission Schemes, a circular on 
India Missions, a Pastoral Letter for our Synod, a circular 
for Eegent Square on first day of year, a Eeply to John 
Munro in Patriot; Pastoral Letter to Abernyte (not 
printed)." 

One of his projects, long entertained though never 
executed, was a companion to Life in Earnest, to consist 
of a series of discourses on the text " Whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are honest," etc., Phil iv. 8, 
and entitled The Christian Gentleman. He frequently 
spoke of it with interest. One of its chief themes would 
have been " consideration for others," which he reckoned a 
grace of the Spirit as well as a mark of politeness. 

The earliest of all the congratulations on the publica- 
tion of Life in Earnest, is the subjoined note from a 
naturalist, then employed in the British Museum, Mr. 
Adam White : — 

"11 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, 
January 3, 1845. 

" My dear and much respected Sir, — Your little but 
weighty volume was handed to me last night at ten, and 
as soon as I was up this morning I galloped over its pages, 
which were familiar — familiar quite to my memory. 
Your admirable address is the only part I have read 
through as yet, because it is new. 

" As a young professing Christian man, and member of 
a Christian church, allow me to thank you for publishing 
so admirable a series of tractates, and to express my hope 
that the Spirit from above may descend like the dew upon 
Hermon, and revive all deadness in the work given yonr 



NATURAL HISTORY REMINISCENCES. 257 

congregation to do, be it spiritual, charitable, or temporal. 
As a young naturalist, allow me to congratulate you on 
the extreme aptness and accuracy of your artless natural 
history illustrations, — illustrations, however, I assure you, 
when I heard them, which sent me, even during your sermon, 
to the Braid Hills and Salisbury Crags after the Scabiosa 
succisa, and it was all I could do to keep myself from 
wandering to the shore of Arran, or the beach of the 
'Figgat Whins,' — spots where, with the happy Lands- 
borough family, or my brother and sisters, I used to watch 
or pick up the lovely Actinice, and many a Sertularia, 
and rock- encrusting Lepraria; and, to make a long story 
short, permit me, my dear James Hamilton, — excuse the 
familiarity of one who has herbarized, and naturalists (like 
anglers in rare old Walton's days) ought to be familiar, — 
permit me, I say, in the third and last place, to thank you 
for the presentation copy, which, as a lover of the curious, 
and a little bit of biblomaniasm, or rather authorism, into 
the bargain, I do most highly value. I heard from the 
Bard of Bydal Mount more than a week ago, and will, 
if spared, bring up his note on Monday, when I leave 
the Athenseum. I wish you had mentioned J ay's Life of 
Cornelius Winter, a book which, thanks to your uncle, my 
dearest wife has got a copy of. Of course you know it. 
May God long spare you in life, health, and ever increas- 
ing ability to proclaim His unspeakable and important 
gift to men, is the prayer of yours, most sincerely and 
respectfully, 

" Adam White." 

K 



258 



his brother's prospects. 



"Jan. 10, 1345. 

" My dear William, — It is a sad thing that I should 
so seldom take the pen to write you a full and deliberate 
letter. Though stronger than I have been for years, I am 
busier than I ever was ; and though less fettered by occu- 
pations than I would once have been, I think that I am 
in a better state than ever to enjoy a little leisure. It 
would be a happy thing for us if we had the same buoyant 
look forward to the 'rest which remaineth,' which we 
sometimes have to an earthly holiday. There is one sub- 
ject on which I have never written, not being officially 
apprised of it, but on which, now that I am so far in 
possession of it, I do not think it brotherly to withhold the 
congratulations which I really feel. I have not a suffi- 
ciently distinguishing recollection of the lady, who must 
have been very young when I spent a week divided betwixt 
botany and my bed at the manse of Arrochar seven summers 
ago, — but at the time I speak of there was enough beneath 
that roof to make it a hallowed, loving, and happy home. 
And to all that was sprightly and affectionate there, I have 
no doubt that Christina contributed her ample quota, 
though my misguided eye, in search of Alpine plants, 
overlooked a fairer flower. From your never having 
written on the subject, which must have been so often on 
your mind when meaner topics employed your pen, I 
suppose you were loath to submit it to my phlegmatic and 
^sympathizing judgment. If so, you quite miscalcu- 
lated. I agree with Arnot, in thinking that marriage is 
one of the works of God which still remains very good ; 
and though your engagement was an early one, I agree 



STONEHOUSE MANSE. 



259 



with Campbell, that there are ' pleasures ' in ' hope/ . . . 
Towards Christina and all the rest I feel that they are 
the children of our father's bosom-friend, — the daughters 
of that man of God whose melodious voice and beaming 
countenance are associated with each winter sacrament at 
Strathblane, and our one Eoxburgh communion. I suppose 
you will not delay the consummation long beyond the 
house-heating of the new manse. Happy as I am, having 
nearly all that the heart could wish (with, however, 
neither a wife nor the promise of one), I am sensibly the 
happier for the prospect of your joy. I hope that it will 
be for the good of Stonehouse, as well as of yourselves. I 
would have sent the £50 for your manse by this post, 
but I lent the sum to a friend six months ago, to be 
repaid at Christmas. He has asked a brief delay. I hope 
it will be brief. I have as much beside me, and something 
more, but I am afraid to part with it till I get my next 
quarter's stipend, when I shall have enough and to spare. 
I have given away nearly £300 in these two years, and 
would have been very glad to have kept a little more of 
it for Stonehouse manse. J. H." 



"London, July 7, 1845. 

"My dear Mamma, — . . . Yesterday I finished the 
lectures on the Eomans. It so happened that there was 
in church a gentleman who had received his first religious 
impressions whilst reading Life in Earnest on the Medi- 
terranean Sea. It was very striking that he should arrive 
just in time to hear the last of the series. He is a medical 
man. ... J. H " 



260 



REVIEW OF THE PAST. 



" WlLLENHALL, Nov. 27, 1 845. 

" My dear Mamma, — Last night I lay from three o'clock 
till time for rising with many thoughts passing through 
my mind ; and when yon look to the date of this, yon will 
not wonder that among these thoughts yon should have 
been particularly present. The night before my eighth 
birthday I could scarcely sleep in the prospect of next 
morning beginning Latin, — a mysterious novelty, for I had 
no notion how a person could ever learn another language 
than his own. Twenty-three years have passed since 
then, sixteen of them in acquiring the said Latin and 
similar branches of knowledge, and seven of them in this 
great work of the ministry. They have been, on the whole, 
very happy years, particularly the last four at Glasgow 
College, and these last seven. Perhaps, on the whole, 
nobody has more to be thankful for than I at this moment 
have — health (for my cold, I hope, is gone) — abundance 
of friends — a competent income — some prospects which 
are very pleasant — a ministry with boundless opportunities, 
and the hope that in some respects it has already been 
useful — yourselves — Andrew so much happier this winter 
and you considerably better. And I cannot but remember 
that for the countless mercies of the present and the past, 
I am, next to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, in- 
debted to you. I know that I was often in danger when 
too young to know what danger is, and in later years my 
only grief has been that in caring for us, as it now turns 
out, you have been too forgetful of yourself. But I quite 
believe that there are better things than bodily health 
which I owe to a mother's love and a mother's care. I 



ANDREW BONAR CALLED TO LONDON. 



261 



know it, and I sometimes feel it, though even now I feel 
somewhat shy to say it. Though there is now another 
who has filled, that place in my heart which till lately was 
vacant, I feel that I do not love my kind, and wise, and 
tender mother less, now that I am thirty-one, than I did 
when I was one-and-twenty, or half the age. J. H." 

Another unsuccessful effort to obtain an experienced 
minister from Scotland for a vacant chinch in London : — 

"Abernyte, Dec. 4, 1S45. 

" My dear Mr. Hamilton, — Before this you will likely 
have heard the frustration of our embassy. \Ye all three 
stated the case as strongly as we could. There were 
nearly 100 of the Collace people there, with Mr. Xairne 
at their head. The speeches of a few of the country 
people were very touching, though, as Mr. jSTairne said, it 
was just as possible to move a mountain as a London de- 
putation. Mr. Bonar, when called upon, said that his 
whole feeling at first was to go to London, but that pray- 
erful deliberation had altered his mind. Good was still 
doing at Collace, and he was not at liberty to leave it. As 
soon as the Lord's work there stood still, he would be glad 
to get away. He stated other reasons, and I am well 
aware that it was neither dislike to London nor the im- 
portunities of Ins people that prevailed with him, but just 
the solemn conviction that he ought not to quit his charge 
whilst Iris ministry continues to be so evidently owned by 
God. The Presbytery showed that they were mainly 
moved by affection for Mr. Bonar, and anxiety about 



262 



ME. BONAE EEMAINS AT COLLACE. 



their local interests. I am disappointed in a deeply 
cherished hope, but I feel that I love Andrew Bonar more 
than ever. I scarcely expect myself to see him in London, 
but should he, as from his greater strength is likely, out- 
live me, there is no one I can at present think of whom I 
should like so well to enter into my labours. In the way 
of early rising and travelling, I have sometimes felt tired, 
but am otherwise well. I was exceedingly delighted 
with Hawick congregation, — 1200 intelligent and manly- 
looking hearers." 

"Dec. 12, 1845. — This visit to Scotland has taken some 
worldly cares off my mind. Additional trustees ap- 
pointed, and the little affairs of the family seen after. 
It was very delightful to find William's full church and 
his affectionate auditory, and pleasant to see himself and 
Christina in their nice new manse. 

" Employed two days looking over and preparing for the 
press a few lectures on prayer. This, when done, will be 
another thing off my mind. 

" Failed in our errand, so far as getting A. Bonar to Lon- 
don. Could have departed from this world more lightened 
had he been here. He wished to come, but felt it his 
duty to remain. Having kept no record of the employ- 
ments of this year, I can m ake no summary. My impression 
is that it was as busy as any, with fewer sermons away 
from home. 

" Besides editing the first three numbers of Presbyterian 
Messenger, I printed Life of Bunyan, prefixed to Nelson's 
edition, and Mount of Olives" 



WORK PROJECTED. 



263 



The Mount of Olives, as a title of this volume, is not 
strictly descriptive : it is a name of convenience, taken 
from the subject of the first lecture. The nature of the 
little treatise is indicated in the secondary title, Lectures 
on Prayer. If it is less lively than its predecessor, it 
exhibits, as befits its theme, more of tenderness and 
solemnity. It has been received in all branches of the 
Evangelical Church with great favour, and has been the 
instrument of much good. 1 

"Hastings, May 17, 1846. 

" Perhaps it is only a cunning pretext for wishing to get 
well, but there is a scheme much in my head, and which, 
could I execute, I should feel that I had lived less in vain. 
It is a series, three or four small volumes,' as plain, as 
popular, and as interesting as I could make them, on the 
most urgent topics. 

" 1. On the Evidences, making the proof palpable to the 
feeblest understanding, and conclusive (by the blessing of 
God) to the most faltering judgment, and above all, land- 
ing the reader not on the confines of Christianity, but in 
the very heart of the gospel. 

" 2. The Gospel, so simply stated that no earnest reader 
but should find himself in intelligent possession of the 
great ' open secret/ 

" 3. Developed Christianity. The peculiarities of the 
Christian Life. Its duties, privileges, trials. Instances 
— E. M'Cheyne," etc. 

1 Both the Mount of Olives and Life in Earnest are contained in the 
first volume of his Collected Works. 



264: 



RESIDENCE AT EMS. 



Here again lie appears in character ; he accomplished 
much, but he purposed more. The projects of his busy- 
mind seemed like the blossom of some trees, — they came in 
myriads, while, from the limited capacity of the agent, 
only a few of them developed into actual fruit. If life 
and leisure had been granted to fill up the scheme here 
sketched, a rich legacy would have been left to the 
Church of Christ. The evidences, the nature, and the 
fruits of the gospel, exhibited and enforced by the genius 
and learning and faith of James Hamilton, might have 
been of eminent service to the generation following. But 
the matter was ordered otherwise. The blossoming desire 
was fragrant, but the winter came before it had developed 
into fruit. 

This season a prolonged illness rendered necessary a 
prolonged rest. By medical advice he travelled for some 
time on the Continent, and used the waters of a German 
bath. This was indeed with him the normal condition. 
Life came in throbs of excessive exertion, followed by 
pauses of enforced repose. 

TO HIS SISTER. 

"Ems, pres Coblentz, July 10, 1846. 

" We are now in the regular routine of a German Spa. 
The system of it is as uniform as a clock. Get up at 
half-past five. Proceed to the Wells, and drink, at ten 
minutes' intervals, two or three tumblers of the waters. 
These are hot, containing some carbonic acid and a few 
salts. Pace about till eight, when it is presumed that the 
last of the tumblers is digested ; then breakfast. I should 



OCCUPATIONS AT EMS. 



265 



have noted that the said wells are a scene of the utmost 
invalid gaiety — sipping the Kessel to the music of a 
splendid Bohemian band ; promenading in colonnades and 
gardens among German Grafs and Austrian Princesses — 
with Prussian and Polish counts furnished with moustaches 
much resembling the tusks of the walrus ; the sort of 

scene which turned the heads of the poor . In 

one respect this spot is a pleasant exception to Germany. 
There is hardly any smoking, and my aromatic associations 
with the Ehine from Cologne to Mannheim are all of 
tobacco. Well, after breakfast read a little — the Times, 
and our own books. Then climb a little bit of a woody hill, 
and read Howitt's Germany, to get a little acquainted with 
the country we are in. Then, one o'clock, a grand table- 
d'hdte, with nearly 200 of a congregation, and sometimes 
music to drown the clatter of the dishes. After dinner, 
I don't know what we do, till six o'clock, when more 
water ; then tea and bread without butter ; and bed at nine 
o'clock. Having added that water-drinkers are allowed 
no fish, no fruit, no acid, no wine, I have completed the 
sketch of our animal existence here. The waters are in 
themselves so nutritious as not to need those vulgar 
adjuncts, and it is amazing how jolly some of our tee- 
totallers have grown." 

"Ems, Germany, July 11, 1846. 
" My veey dear Brother, — . . . The same letter brings 
word of uncle Walker's death, and the extraordinary 
sickness in Stonehouse. To our good old uncle I am con- 
fident that this is a blessed transition. In his silent way, 



266 



EDUCATION IN GERMANY. 



lie was continually cultivating a conscience void of offence 
toward God and toward man ; and as his hope was on the 
right Foundation, so his life was singularly blameless. I 
think it was a happiness to him to spend his old age at 
Spittal ; and his whole treatment of that little farm was 
a specimen of his scrupulous conscientiousness. This rapid 
removal of our older relatives is fast leaving us in the 
situation of those who must naturally go next. Nor is it 
likely that any of our family will attain the veteran years 
of our predecessors. One of the most gratifying things 
in this country is the state of education. Yesterday Mr. 
H. and I went to the village school. There were four 
school-rooms : one for boys and another for girls, under 
ten years of age ; a third for boys, and a fourth for girls, 
from ten to fourteen, all taught by schoolmasters — 
Lutherans, Catholics, and Jews together. The school fees 
are Is. 4d. a year. Every child from six to fourteen is 
compelled to attend this or some other school, under a 
penalty of twopence a day, which, in this cheap country, 
does away the inducement of keeping them at home to 
work. They sing in parts most beautifully. On Sabbath 
morning we went to the Lutheran Church. They sang 
a hymn, twenty minutes long, everybody joining — the 
women down- stairs, the men in the gallery — music which 
could not be got in England. And what made the con- 
trast more striking, was, on the dismissal of the German 
congregation, the English assembled, and though there 
were 120 of them, we had no psalm at all; nobody could 
raise a tune." 



VARIETY A MENTAL MEDICINE. 



267 



"Ems, pres Coblesttz, July 13, 1846. 
" My dear Andkew, — . . . The announcement of your 
great success came through James's letter, whilst we were at 
breakfast, and awakened much joy and hearty felicitations. 
I quite expected that you would win the Italian prize, and 
therefore am the more gratified at your getting the geo- 
logical. It is a little out of your usual line of things, and 
confirms my impression that the natural sciences are more 
suited to your talents than your taste. Few things have 
given me more pleasure than the prizes you won this year 
and the last. They are a solid benefit, and I trust that 
hereafter you will find the advantage of them. I am not 
so happy but that the account you give of your frequent 
feelings grieves me much. I do not think that it is excess 
of vitality that gives advantage to these feelings. Such 
gloom and depression are perhaps more natural to you 
than they would be to less pensive and wistful minds, but 
I am sure if you had evenly health, and a system in full 
tone, you would more easily overcome them. If not ab- 
solutely neutralized they might be diluted, and, as it were, 
drowned by redundant health and energy. And the best 
use you could make of this holiday would be to rest and 
ramble a good deal ; and read, I think, as little as possible. 
Before I was quite grown up, I was the victim of most 
dreary and foreboding impressions. It was no one rational 
cause which awakened them — but anything — myself was 
full of the dreary element, and any subject was the nucleus 
round which it deposited itself, and shaped a tangible 
grief. But as my constitution gathered strength, and, I 
think I may add, as clearer views of the Divine bene- 



268 EXAMPLES OF EXCESSIVE SUSCEPTIBILITY. 

volence, and brighter hopes broke in, those feelings passed 
away. I am not exempt from them now, but they do not 
hurt and oppress me, and blacken the face of things as 
they used to do. I anticipate the same for you, although, 
from my own analogy, I am sure you do not anticipate it 
for yourself. It would be curious if we could ascertain 
the comparative number of cases in which extreme mental 
susceptibility has been a source of prevailing and pre- 
ponderating happiness or distress. I fear the gloomy scale 
would be the heaviest after you have put in Petrarch, 
Southey, Ovid, the dark years of Cowper, Mrs. Hemans, 
etc. (just now I am reading letters written with Stygian 
water — Foster's.) There is, doubtless, a constitutional in- 
fusion which nothing can utterly expel, but many things 
might alleviate ; and one of them is occupation distinct 
from that line of things in which the fancy is most disposed 
to travel. Geology as a present study, and pastoral work 
as a future calling, will exert a good influence on a mind 
like yours. But I must stop, otherwise you will wish for 
a letter of facts. The tidings of Uncle Walker's death, so 
soon after aunt of Langrig, is ver}^ solemnizing. These 
events are fast altering Stonehouse. Give my warmest 
love to mamma. The next (I hope early) letter, will, I 
trust, bring cheering accounts of her. I fear I wrote too 
querulously to Jane ; but I really was uneasy and unhappy 
at being so long without hearing. We have delightful 
weather, and are getting on nicely. — Ever, my dear Andrew, 
your very affectionate brother, 

" James Hamilton." 



DONKEYS AT EMS. 



269 



" Ems, July 31, 1846. 

" My dear Jane, — ... I am sorry that we did not 
find out the delights of donkey-riding before Mr. (William) 
and Mrs. Hamilton left us. We have now had three 
famous excursions in this way, and I intend another this 
afternoon. They are wonderful creatures for strength 
and sense and gentleness, — the Esel family at Ems. On 
Tuesday afternoon, along with Mr. Matheson, we all went 
to a hill about two miles distant, from which we had a 
splendid prospect down the Ehine as far as Bonn, round 
to the Yosges mountains in France, and back to the Taunus 
hills near Heidelberg. But it was not the prospect, but 
the progress to it. Every donkey is followed by a driver 
in a blue blouse and a scarlet cap, and ours entered into 
the spirit of the thing. Passing through a wood they 
descried another donkey party descending, and determined 
to have a shine, — they urged ours to the gallop. The rider 
has nothing for it but to stick hard and scour along. T. 
Matheson set up a shout which would have done credit 
to a wild Indian, and the opposite party were evidently 
dismayed, but before they could effect a retreat into the 
woods we were on them, and I came full tilt against an 
elderly French lady, and nearly swept her out of the 
saddle. Her looks of horror so diverted our company that 
they could scarcely hold on for laughing, and when we got 
to the hill top we all protested that we had never so much 
enjoyed a ride. But to tell the feats of the donkeys tran- 
scends the limits of a letter. We ambled away to a farm- 
house yesterday morning on the top of a wooded hill, and 
besides a good breakfast got several new butterflies. The 



270 



AN EARTHQUAKE AT EMS. 



green net is nearly as kenspeckle here as at Versailles, and 
yesterday it was edifying to see the tall donkey driver 
rushing through the dust and flailing at the schmetterlinge, 
as they call them here. On Wednesday evening, a little 
before tea, an event occurred which has been quite an era 
at Ems. I had put out my candle, and was pulling the 
quilt about my shoulders, when I felt the bed hitch up. 
Of course I paused, thinking that some one was under it, 
and in so doing observed the bed, doors, and whole room 
shaking so violently, along with a heavy rumbling noise, 
that the next thought which flashed into my mind was, 
'The poor gentleman next door is seized with a fearful 
fit/ and a cold shudder crept over me. But I had hardly 
time to think this when I saw that it was an earthquake. 
I got up and hurried on my clothes, met the worthy little 
Zimmer-madchen, Elisabeth, in the passage wringing 
her hands, and unlocking the parlour-door found the 
ladies, who had not gone to bed, pale and almost speech- 
less. By this time all the dogs were barking, and a 
terrible uproar in the house and streets. Knowing that 
this is not a country for earthquakes, I did not feel 
alarmed, but just for this very reason the people of the 
place were in all the greater panic. In case of another 
shock, I sat up for an hour ; but feeling most ungallantly 
sleepy persuaded the ladies to go back to their room, and 
having again committed ourselves to Him who can keep 
us even when mountains are moving, in a few minutes I 
was fast asleep. Yesterday and to-day many people are 
leaving in consequence of the alarm." 



THE VALLEY OF THE MOSELLE. 



271 



"Bingen, Aug. 10, 1846. 

" My dear Akdeew, — On Wednesday we took leave of 
Ems — almost sorry to leave a place where we all thought 
we had got some health, and where most of the days passed 
so pleasantly. We made no friends among the visitors 
except at last exchanging civil words with a few, hut we 
had a great many humhle friends who were concerned at 
our departure. Such as Philip and Andrew, the honest 
and sensible donkey drivers, our waiter Louis, who turned 
out to he an entomologist. (We had often seen him looking 
at our butterfly spoils when bringing up tea, but thought 
it was only in rude wonder, till we found out that he had a 
much larger collection of his own than any of us are likely 
to possess.) These German attendants are simple, warm- 
hearted, and obliging, and, as they are all well educated, 
it is interesting to talk to them — a thing which all visitors 
except the English do. We had a lot of English servants 
about the house latterly, footmen and ladies'-maids, who 
were evidently a subject of great surprise and compassion 
to the Germans. They treated their affectation and jaunty 
airs just as they would have been treated in a lunatic 
asylum. 

" On Thursday evening at six we went on board the little 
steamer which sails up the Moselle, hoping to get to Treves, 
a city which, next to Rome, contains the most Eoman 
antiquities. We had a lovely route, through perpetual 
castles, villages, and vineyards, but owing to the uncom- 
mon drought very tedious. We were frequently obliged 
to get horses to drag us through the shallows. We wearied 
of this, and got out at tea-time at a village called Alfen, 



272 



THE INTERIOR OF THE COUNTRY. 



where the guide-book promised us the best inn on the 
Moselle. It was a truly German place, — a piggery under 
my windows, and a midden below those of the parlour, 
and so many queer smells, that had it not been for Eau-de- 
Cologne we could have done little justice to the noble 
cheer which they set before us. Here, aud in other 
villages through which we passed, it is astonishing amidst 
what pestilential smells the people live, whilst all around 
is the sweetest and most salubrious air. After visiting 
an iron- work and some beautiful scenery, on Friday after- 
noon we took a carriage twenty miles, as far as Simmern, 
and next morning came to this place of noted beauty. 
This overland journey is what hardly any Englishman has 
yet performed, and gave us more insight into the interior 
of Germany than can be got from a month on the Rhine. 
In the first place, it was all German. Except our land- 
lord at Simmern, who said that he could speak a little 
French, but whose performances in that way went no 
further than ' Oui, Monsieur,' and ' Bon soir/ we did not 
meet a creature who knew any other language than 
Deutscli, and, what is more remarkable, the said landlord 
had never seen an English sovereign. The travelling, too, 
was primitive. We came to a ferry where there was 
nothing but a shallow little boat and no boatman. Our 
postilion proceeded to help himself to this boat, and would 
have taken us across in it, but at last the ferrymen made 

their appearance. Mrs. was in a perfect panic at the 

idea of our venturing in such a shell, and insisted in 
English on getting out of the carriage. This being inter- 
preted to the coachman, he looked humanely at us, as a 



THE INTERIOR OF THE COUNTRY. 273 

tender-hearted drover would look at three calves in a 
cage, and quietly led his horse into the boat with the 
carriage, contents and all. Then the road on the other 
side, over the Hundsruch mountains — such bouncing and 
bumping over rocks and stones as would have demolished 
a Stonehouse cart, anything except a German Wagen — 
whisking through vineyards all fresh and tender in a recent 
thunder shower — holding our handkerchiefs to our noses 
till we got through another of these fetid villages, and 
then emerging on thirty miles of table-land where uni- 
versal silence reigned. There were no farm-houses nor 
isolated cottages, all these being (like Caffre Kraals or the 
old Scotch touns) clustered in little villages, — every village 
being provided with its church and school, and every 
habitation with its Mrs. M'Clarty. Extent and sM'ence 
were the genius of the landscape ; no birds except the quiet 
wagtail ; no people except the solitary herd with his vast 
troop of goats or oxen — the latter not lowing ; no travellers ; 
no noise of our own wheels on the (now) dusty path — a 
region struck dumb. Its absolute newness made us enjoy 
it greatly. We looked, and felt, and said little. To-day 
we go back to Coblentz, to-morrow to Konigsberg, on 
Friday to Aix, and thence to Antwerp. If all be well I 
hope we shall be home in the end of next week. I am 
perfectly ready to go for two or three weeks to Scotland 
or Wales, or wherever you may like best, and as soon as 
you please, and am very happy in the thought of thus 
enjoying your company. Yourself will be society enough, 
and unless you wish to superadd some other, I do not. I 
shall be ready to start whenever you like, and in whatever 

S 



274 



SOJOURN IN WALES. 



direction. I am sure you much need some change after so 
long and hard a season. The Ems waters are alterative. 
Whilst taking them I felt no increase of strength ; perhaps 
the reverse : but for the last few days I have been con- 
scious of much improvement. The inactivity has yielded 
to a more sprightly feeling. I have slept remarkably well 
most of this journey. I cannot join the popular vilifi- 
cation of German beds. They are the freshest and most 
elastic I have ever occupied, and except last night I have 
had the whole to myself. Last night I had for a neigh- 
bour a Floh, which the Frenchman I succeeded had forgot 
to take with him. As it is now likely to be the end of 
September before I am allowed to preach again, it is a 
great comfort to have the pulpit so occupied. I would 
like to write to Arnot, but a letter takes an hour, and, 
except in rain, I like to spend every hour in idlesse 
or the open air. His coming up just now is an act of 
friendship for which I feel most deeply and affectionately 
grateful 

"Best love to dear mamma and Jane. I am glad to 
think that so few days are now between us, though the 
past have been days for which I must be ever grateful 

"J. H." 

He returned from the Continent improved in health; 
but it was judged expedient that his vacation should be 
prolonged for another month. Accordingly, in company 
with several members of his own family, he spent the 
greater part of September in Wales. This interval was 
e min ently beneficial in restoring his strength ; it was also 



PLANS FOR PREACHING. 



275 



turned to account in maturing schemes for the work of 
the ministry. 

"Bangor, Sept. 6, 1846. 

" Having now been sequestered from all preaching for 
twenty Sabbaths, I have got some time to think anew on 
what preaching ought to be. I have heard many sermons 
of late. Sometimes I have been so weak and joyless as 
not to be a fair criterion, but generally I wished to be 
pleased, and was not unwilling to be impressed. Leaving 
out of account all the erroneous doctrine, two defects 
attach to most of the pulpit performances at which I have 
been present. Tew of the preachers seemed to have a 
definite object in view ; and of the few who were anxious 
to establish some particular doctrine, or enforce some 
specific duty, I can scarcely recollect one whose discourse 
was so fresh, and clear, and persuasive that the careless 
would be arrested, that the simple could follow, and that 
the attentive would be impressed. 

" Around my own recovery there still hangs a serious 
uncertainty; but thinking of it as a thing, in the kind 
providence of God, not impossible, nor altogether unlikely, 
I often revolve on beginning my ministry, and what should 
I preach, and how. 

" Now, it does seem to me that the Lord Jesus is the 
Alpha and the Omega of Christianity, and that the gospel 
ministry has achieved its highest end when it brings a 
soul into a realizing knowledge and firm belief of what 
Jesus Christ has done and what he is. When it has en- 
kindled such an adoring affection for him that henceforth 
to live is Christ, and when it has availed itself of this new 



276 



COURSE ON THE EVIDENCES. 



principle, to elicit a frank obedience to Christ's commands, 
and a studious conformity to Christ's example. 

" There is one preliminary point on which I have some 
difficulty. I fear that many hearers do not intelligently 
and assuredly believe that Jesus Christ came into the world. 
And I do not know whether for their sakes I should not 
commence with some brief and forcible proofs of the his- 
toric fact. If mine were a country congregation, I should 
never think of so employing a single Sabbath. But our 
young men are in frequent intercourse with sceptics and 
scoffers, and I strongly suspect that some of our well-dis- 
posed and sober-minded people are haunted with specu- 
lative doubts and scientific difficulties. To some I really 
believe it would be a relief, — it would be setting them on a 
rock, and putting the new song in their mouths, — did they 
know for certain that the New Testament was written in 
the first century, and were they as sure of the facts in the 
Saviour's history as they are sure of the narrative in 
Caesar's Commentaries. Would it be worth while employ- 
ing a few Sabbaths on some of the most striking evidences ? 
I think it would. I think that I myself have no more 
doubt of the occurrences related by the Evangelists than if 
I had personally witnessed them ; but I fear that some of 
my hearers may not be so fully persuaded, and I also fear 
that in such cases, without this preliminary persuasion, 
subsequent reasonings and appeals would be, for the most 
part, labour lost. 

" The next thing would be to present to the minds of 
the people the most vivid conception I am capable of 
forming, or for which the Scriptures supply the materials, 



DOCTRINE AND LIFE. 



277 



of what the Saviour was, what He did, and what He is, at 
the same time striving, by every touching consideration, 
to make such a Saviour precious. There are two classes 
who are most likely to hail Him, — those who have a great 
burden on their conscience, and those who have a great 
void in their souls. It should therefore be an object of 
my ministry to convince of sin, to make the conscience- 
burdened know what it really is which weighs them down, 
and direct them to that Lamb of God who takes the load 
away. And for the other class, the restless, and craving, 
and life- weary, I must try to show them how in Jesus 
Christ they will find love without alloy and a Friend 
without infirmity, — a Friend worth living for, and with 
whom it will be blessedness to live eternally. 

" And the last thing to be attempted is to give such an 
exposition of Christian character, the things sublime and 
the things amiable in living Christianity, as, in connec- 
tion with love to Christ, will produce a holy ambition to 
abound in them. The production of holy, Christ-like 
character is the highest result of evangelical preaching, 
but it is also the rarest. It is rare, because many evan- 
gelical preachers do not venture to descend into the details 
of Christian duty, and some who have studied these fail 
in supplying the great motive to Christian practice. What 
I long to see is a Church of saints, a band of happy, 
devoted, unworldly men, full of the Spirit of Christ, and 
abounding in good and noble deeds, — a Church of mem- 
bers far superior to their present ministers. 

" These are the things at which I would aim. I have 
a deep conviction that no mere preaching can produce 



278 CONGRATULATIONS TO HIS BROTHER. 



these things, but I also believe that these ends are never 
earnestly and prayerfully sought without the power of 
God's Spirit accompanying the minister." 

This scheme for a course of sermons is the expansion of 
a briefer note inserted at a previous date. The plan in 
its fuller form shows the aim of a workman who strives 
to divide rightly the word of truth. Jesus stands in the 
midst of this ministry, with the evidences on one side 
and the fruits on the other. The series on the Evidences 
was meant to lead the hearers to Christ, and the series 
on Christian Character was meant to keep the converts 
following Christ. This is substantially the old apostolic 
resolution, — a determination to know nothing among the 
flock but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

" Bangor, Sept. 8, 1846. 
" My dear Brother and Sister, — So full are we all of 
the tidings of this afternoon that the most natural and 
most pleasant thing I can do is to write a few lines to 
Stonehouse. I will not tell you how Jane and I went to 
the post-office, hardly expecting a letter, and then the 
amazement and the glee with which we read the holo- 
graph announcement from grandmamma herself, and how 
we went back to the house and teazed and puzzled Andrew 
by saluting him 'Uncle Andrew.' But I must tell you 
how happy and thankful the good tidings have made us, 
and how earnestly we hope to hear continued good ac- 
counts. "When John Foster was an old man, the only 
survivors of his family were two daughters, and it is 
curious to read his mournful forebodings of their future 



THE WELSH CALVINISTS. 



279 



lot in life. He had gloomy views of life in general, but 
it was his opinion that the life of women in this world is 
peculiarly unhappy. I do not agree with him either in his 
general or his particular views. Considering how much 
evil survives in the best, I wonder that earthly life is so 
happy ; and, so far as my memory goes, some of the calm- 
est, serenest, and most blessed lives have been those of 
well-educated and pious women. Harriet Newell, Elis. 
Smith, Fanny Woodbury, and many more of whom I have 
read, betwixt the peace of God which filled their hearts 
and that soft atmosphere of kindness and respect which 
their goodness gathered round them, led very happy lives ; 
and though some, like Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Huntiugton, 
had great trials, they had greater joys. I trust you may 
both be spared till you see Christian principles so con- 
firmed in the mind of this little girl, that when you are at 
last taken away for a season you may have no fear for her 
future. When there is an early dedication to God, fol- 
lowed up by prayerful painstaking, I have no fear that 
this will be the result." 

TO ME. WILLIAM HAMILTON. 

" Carnarvon, Sept. 17, 1846. 
" So intensely Welsh are the Welsh Calvinists, that it 
is of no use going to their chapels. We heard a good 
sermon from the Independent minister at Bangor, and 
another good one in the Wesleyan chapel here. Our 
experiments in the Established Church have been very 
discouraging. The Bishop of Bangor and a stranger whom 
we heard here last Sabbath were utterly insignificant. A 



280 



THE CONDITION AND CLAIMS 



gentleman whom I met on the top of the coach took 
measures to count the actual attendance one Sunday in 
all the seventy-three parish churches of Anglesea. In a 
population of 47,000 there were less than 500, — less than 
an average of seven to each. And yet I suppose the High 
Churchmen will clamour for the continuance of the dio- 
cese of St. Asaph, as if the permanence of Christianity in 
North Wales were involved in it. Last night Mr. Gil- 
lespie's old friend, Mr. Bees of Liverpool, was preaching 
here. He had on a week evening five times as many 
hearers as all the Episcopalians of Anglesea. . . . 

" NTow that in the kind providence of God I have the 
prospect of soon preaching again, my mind is much occu- 
pied about this winter's subject. As recent events ad- 
monish, 'the time is short;' and as the discourses will at 
first be limited to the morning, will it not be better to 
suspend the lectures on the Acts, and give a short course 
on the most essential things of Christianity? These, I 
am persuaded, might be made far fresher and more simple 
than they usually are, and I would even hope more im- 
pressive." 

An intelligent observer, with the spirit at once of a 
Christian and a patriot, sojourning for a month in Wales, 
must needs take note, in sadness or indignation, accord- 
ing to temperament, of the position occupied by the 
Established Church in the Principality. The Welsh 
Calvinistic Methodists, supplemented efficiently by some 
other orthodox communities, are the really national Church. 
Unlike the Gaelic in Scotland, which is confined to the 



OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH IN WALES. 281 



remotest localities, and the least educated of the people, 
the Welsh tongue is cherished and used by the bulk of 
the people in the Principality, — the educated as well as 
the unlearned. The preaching, accordingly, that is truly 
national employs the native tongue. Symptoms, however, 
are not wanting to warn the Christians of that country, that, 
though they have hitherto embanked their territory against 
the rising tide of the English language much more com- 
pletely than the Scottish Highlands, the time is coming 
when the barriers must give way. There is no time to be 
lost. A prudent glance into the immediate future should 
suffice to stir up all their energy in the direction of 
providing ordinances for the rising generation in the 
English tongue. 

The notice regarding the late Mr. Eees of Liverpool, 
which occurs in the close of this extract, is most interest- 
ing in the light of subsequent events. Mr. Eees was the 
true bishop of North Wales. That voice of the godly 
people, which in such a matter is the voice of God, clearly 
designated him as the chief pastor and preacher of the 
GospeL His memory overshadows the province still. At 
the mention of his name in any company spontaneous 
signs of tender reverence are displayed. Yet, when that 
man died, the incumbent of the parish, being anomalously 
ruler of the national cemetery, permitted his dust to be 
buried only on condition that his sorrowing disciples 
should keep their lips closed, and not dare to sing a 
hymn by the brink of his grave ! 

The latter part of this prolonged vacation was turned 
to good account for his own subsequent ministry. With 



282 



HIS NEED OF SOCIETY. 



such a measure of health as enabled him to be a hearer, 
but not such as to justify him in attempting to preach, he 
occupied the interval as a worshipper with various sections 
of the Church, and in different parts of the country. 
Whatever excellences he observed during this period, were 
treasured as examples ; and if he also noted the faults of 
other preachers, he employed them as a means of detecting 
and amending his own. 

His entrance into the marriage relation is generally one 
of the great turning-points of a man's life. Different 
persons are, of course, differently affected by it, according 
to their age, and character, and habits ; but even where 
least, the consequences to happiness and usefulness are 
unspeakably great. Perhaps we would be safe in saying 
that James Hamilton was one of those persons who ex- 
perience the need, and enjoy the benefit of a help-meet in 
the very highest degree. Such a companion was a prime 
necessity for him, and he knew it. He was not one of 
those firm, self-contained mortals, who can stand alone, 
and be all the world to themselves. His spirit was of the 
full and overflowing kind, that is ready to burst unless it 
is permitted to pour out its emotions more frequently and 
more completely than is possible in any human relation 
except the nearest. Accordingly, he accounted it a great 
matter, and gave it the gravest consideration ; but he could 
not command the blessing. He silently prayed for the 
gift, and then waited the Giver's good time. He learned 
in his own experience, as many have learned before him, 
that marriages are made in heaven. 

At length the right person appeared in the right place, 



MBS. MOORE A^ T D HER FAMILY. 



283 



It may have "been observed from intimations in Mr. 
Hamilton's letters that one of his favourite retreats from 
the bustle of the city was at Willenhall, under the roof of 
Mrs. Moore, widow of the late John Moore, Esq., of Cal- 
cutta, who had lately returned from India. From these 
pleasant sojournings " important consequences followed/' 
Mrs. Moore's eldest daughter was at that time very young, 
and in the first instance he entertained no design and no 
expectation in the direction of matrimony; but as time 
went on, according to his own confession, he " found in her 
such a fountain sealed of various goodness," — found her so 
" full of sense and considerateness and mature feeling, as 
well as mere girlish innocence and simplicity," that he 
was taken captive in the usual way. Judgment and affec- 
tion conspired in the choice, mother and daughter were 
duly consulted, all parties interested gave cordial consent, 
and the contract, real though not formal, was fixed, with 
the condition that a considerable period should intervene 
ere the marriage should take place. 

The series of letters addressed by Mr. Hamilton to his 
affianced between the time of the engagement and the 
date of his marriage is a unique and most interesting col- 
lection. "We shall submit some specimens. By the nature 
of the case the choice is necessarily limited ; yet, to with- 
hold them altogether would leave a blank in the delinea- 
tion of a character which was, in a very remarkable degree, 
simple, pure, and elevated. In this step of his life, as well 
as others, he walked by faith ; and none might dare to 
annoy him, in such a tender and grave transaction, with 
any species of levity. 



284 



BIRTHDAY MEMORIES. 



"Dee's Hotel, Birmingham, April 15, 1845. 

" My dearest Annie, — It was the wish of Archbishop 
Leighton that, as he hal been a pilgrim all his days, he 
might die in an inn ; and, I have often looked at the old 
house in Warwick Lane, the Bell Inn, where God gave 
him his desire. And good Mr. Jones of Creaton (the 
' Basket of Fragments ') lived all his days in a little 
country inn. But neither of them, I think, would have 
chosen the traveller's room. Here I am at the corner of a 
very long table, at the further end of which Mr. Msbet is 
manufacturing tea in what he calls the orthodox way — 
that is, in Mrs. Msbet's way, — a Presbytery clerk at my 
elbow is copying his minutes, one is studying the Bir- 
mingham Directory, two are writing home, and fifteen or 
sixteen ministers and elders are talking in the various 
tongues of our motley Presbyterianism. 

"Of the sights of Liverpool I saw none except the 
Zoological Gardens. There I missed many old friends, 
whose acquaintance I made in 1838. They have still the 
same elephant, but his character is under a cloud. A 
short time ago he killed a man in a fit of revenge. The 
man had pricked his trunk when pretending to feed him, 
and the elephant took the first opportunity to seize Mm, 
and squeeze him to death. . . . 

" By the date of your dear mamma's note I find that this 
is a memorable day in her history, and in that of your 
family,— her brother's birthday, and her own sailing for 
India. It is also a day of solemn remembrance with me. 
It is ten years to-day since the Lord took my father to 
himself, — the saddest day, at the time, I ever saw, though 



FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 



285 



I can look back to it now without tlie bleak and desolate 
feelings which, long rested over it. Like your own father, 
he had been very diligent when young, and possessed a 
great abundance of information on almost every subject. 
He was full of affection to us, and had, more than any one 
I have known, loving and adoring views of our blessed 
Saviour. . . ." 

" May 25, 1845. — Let me try to sanctify my affection, to 
make our mutual regard a means of good. I must seek 
to guide her studies, to help her dear mother in directing 
them, and above all must try to increase her personal 
piety, expanding her mind, enlarging her information, and 
trying to give a holy elevation to her character, to fit her 
for those scenes and duties in which it is my hope yet to 
see her." 

" 7 Laxsdowne Place, June 10, 1845. 
"... Well, my dearest Annie, the things about which 
I am most anxious are your character and your acquire- 
ments. Don't startle when I speak of character, as if I 
imagined you had still one to make. It was because you 
had made Mary's choice, and because you had so many 
congenial dispositions, that I felt it right to entertain 
towards you those feelings which now I do. But the best 
character is that which improves the fastest, and nothing 
will give me so much joy as to see you wirming every 
one's esteem by your good sense and energy, your gentle- 
ness and self-denial. You cannot be too kind to grand- 
papa and grandmamma, and you may be very useful, not 
only to Helen, Fanny, and Mary, but to your brothers 



286 



HOW TO EEAD BOOKS. 



also. Of dear mamma I need say nothing, knowing how 
much you love her, except this, that I hope she will 
never see in either of us what will give her a moment's 
concern, and this, that one of the loveliest things in your- 
self is that you have loved so much one whose wisdom 
and affection and goodness would have made her (even 
though she had not been your own mother) so worthy of 
your love. And oh, Annie, take time for prayer ! They 
are dreary and disjointed days when God is not with 
us, but everything prospers well when His blessing is 
secured. 

" Then for acquirements. I am glad that you are so 
fond of work, and that you have a taste for music. The 
only other thing about which I am anxious is your 
information. The world is full of accomplished and igno- 
rant women, people who can dance and draw and em- 
broider, but whose company is far more irksome than the 
solitary confinement of Pentonville prison. If you have, 
what you can so easily get, a well-furnished mind (by 
adding diligently to the knowledge you have already 
attained), you will possess what few of your lady sisters 
have. Two hours of solid reading daily, in which I would 
gladly be a sharer on the days I am at Willenhall, and 
perhaps half-an-hour in writing down the results, would 
be a goodly acquisition in the course of a year. What 
would you think of laying down and enforcing on your- 
self this rule ? History, biography, voyages and travels, 
and books on natural history, are the most useful kinds 
of general reading. It is an excellent plan to make the 
books one has been reading the subject of conversation. 



FROSTED FLOWERS. 



287 



It impresses them on the memory, and saves many of 
those idle words for which we must give account. 

" I know that you know me too well to look on this as 
a mere letter of advice. It is a letter of anxiety. You 
have been in my heart as I wrote every word, and though 
there are many persons for whose welfare I am concerned, 
there is none whose growing improvement in intelligence 
and piety and beauty of character can be the same joy to 
me. . . . The Lord shine on you with His face, and make 
us happy in Himself. — Your ever affectionate 

" James Hamilton." 

"10 Bath Street, Worthing, 
Saturday, July 10, 1845. 

"My dearest Annie, — . . . Yesterday afternoon I 
went to see a rich nursery-garden in the neighbourhood. 
The rarest plant in it was an American mallow, with a 
flower as large as a hollyhock. It came accidentally 
among some American roots, and turned out to be a new 
species. Professor Lindley named it Malva Fulleriana, in 
honour of our friend Fuller, the nurseryman, who showed 
it to us ; and so gorgeous was it that he had orders for 
three hundred cuttings of it at a guinea each, and got a 
man from London on purpose to attend to them, when one 
frosty night the fellow got tipsy, and left the glass open, 
so that they all perished. The survivor which we saw 
was a plant that he had previously sent to Baron Alder- 
son, but by this time a Parisian florist had somehow got 
possession of the plant, — so that, like the milkmaid and 
her pail, Mr. Fuller's vision of golden guineas was all dis- 



288 



FRENCH WORKMEN. 



pelled. In that garden we saw a profusion of roses, as 
great a variety as I have ever noticed, but none of them 
so sweet to me as your moss-buds. At this moment I am 
sitting before the fire, for it is really cold, and your roses 
are on the mantelpiece as fresh as their neighbours at 
WillenhalL" 

"Rouen (Hotel t>' Albion), Aug. 9, 1845. 
" My dear Annie, — As I am not likely to keep any 
other record of this excursion, I shall set down whatever 
comes into my mind, and just in the order in which it 
comes, — along, perhaps, with some of those things which 
I would have been apt to say if you yourself had been 
beside me. I will thus feel in some measure as if I were 
in your company, and will feel more interest in what I 
see. . . . Havre is the Liverpool of France, and a very 
lively town. We stayed all Friday there. One thing 
struck me at once — the boundless vivacity of the French 
people. Some masons were repairing our hotel, and sing- 
ing at their work. Some carpenters were repairing a 
steamer which lay opposite our window, a job which 
needed haste, as she required to sail next day, and they 
twirled their gimlets and flourished their hammers, and 
skipped about in search of pins and nails, as if they were 
capering through a pantomime. And some sailor lads 
were washing out a deck, when they began to souse one 
another with their water-buckets, and soon got up a 
famous sham-fight. I do not know if they get through as 
much work as our sullen and deliberate English labourers, 
but they certainly go more briskly about it. Here the 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



2S9 



working men all wear bright blue smocks, and the women, 
except ladies of quality, go about, not in bonnets, but in 
muslin caps, some of them very fantastic, but all of them, 
down to the very poorest, of a snowy whiteness. It is no 
uncommon thing to see the common people, husband and 
wife, going arm-in-arm, which I have never seen in Eng- 
land. They are vondrously polite and affable, and talk 
as much in a day as would suffice a Saxon for a month. 
In some things they are very far behind us. Their horses 
are small, and wretchedly harnessed, often yoked into 
their omnibuses with ropes, and the said omnibuses piti- 
ful wooden machines without springs, in which the pas- 
sengers bob up and down like dice in a dice-box. The 
streets are swarming with soldiers and police — a sign of a 
lower stage of civilisation : and the streets themselves are 
narrow and dirty, and the interior of the houses too much 
in keeping with, the streets. On the hill d'lngonville I 
first tried the new net with which mamma supplied me, 
and almost the first capture was her favourite golden 
Y-niotk. We also secured a Goliath of a grab, a sleek 
green monster, which far surpasses any caterpillar I have 
seen at home. I cleared out a box of soda-powders for his 
special accommodation, but I fear that he is not thriving 
in his new quarters." . . . 

"Eorz>-, Sabbath, Aug. 10, 1845. 
" This morning we went immediately after breakfast to 
the cathedral, one of the finest in Trance. They were 
celebrating mass. A great multitude, perhaps 2000, were 
present, almost entirely women and children, and of these 
again very few seemed earnest or devout. I do not wonder 



290 



EOMISH WORSHIP. 



at what an English gentleman, long resident in Eouen, 
told ns yesterday, that not three Frenchmen in a thousand 
believe in any religion. The only religion which arrests 
their eye is the one whose mnmmeries we witnessed this 
morning, — and certainly a greater outrage on common 
sense, or a more daring mockery of the heavenly Majesty 
under pretence of worship, I never expected to see. It 
was not so much the service in an unknown tongue, hut 
the entire ceremonial — so childish, so theatrical, so alien 
to the very genius of Christianity, and in the present in- 
stance so irreverent, — for the priests of Eouen are a coarse 
and rascal set. In the procession of the host they stood 
for some moments where we sat, and made faces and 
joked with one another in what should have been a most 
solemn part of the service, and showed little anxiety even 
to seem sincere. I should except two dignified ecclesi- 
astics, the one a very young man, from his graceful man- 
ners and noble look probably of higher birth, at least of 
more elevated sentiments than the sordid herd around 
him; and the other an old priest of that earnest and 
ascetic look which reminded me of Mr. Newman. An 
aged Protestant pastor (a Frenchman), whom I met this 
morning, said ' Popery will soon die out in Europe unless 
your country give it another chance !'.... 

" Tuesday Morning. — ... I give myself credit for 
some forbearance, in as far as I have given so little 
space to the subject which most occupies my thoughts. 
The Lord bless you and keep you. In these ramblings 
I often revert to that happy Wednesday which we spent 
so much of together, and which made even us so much 



SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY. 



291 



better acquainted with one another. I used to think that 
our minds were congenial; but now I feel as if there 
were an interfusion of our souls, — as if what we had, we 
had between us. ... I am sorry when I hear people 
only jesting and laughing about these things. You are 
not only so dear to my heart, but so sacred in my eyes, 
that I would not like that our affection should ever be 
a subject for raillery or quizzing." 

" 108 Marine Parade, Brighton, 
Sept. 5, 1845. 

"... We are here very pleasantly situated, and have 
had two days of quiet leisure. There is a little strip of 
garden reaching down from these houses to the sea, where 
yesterday I saw a prodigious crowd of the cabbage butter- 
fly among the mignonette and the tamarisks. So many 
were they that the children were looking over the fence at 
them. A man sorting the garden brought me in a great 
caterpillar which he found on the privet. It will likely 
be some sort of hawk-moth. I spent a week at Brighton 
in January last year, and then read the half of Sir Samuel 
Eomilly's Life. I was exceedingly taken with it, for in 
some things I saw a curious resemblance betwixt his turn 
of mind and my own. Yesterday I went back to the 
same library, and borrowed the last volume, and in read- 
ing it was surprised and happy to find (what I had for- 
gotten) that the name of the lady to whom he owed 
nearly ' all the real happiness of his life ' was Anne. She 
was a remarkable person, and theirs was a more remark- 
able love. There was only one element wanting in it ; 
and when, after twenty years of devoted affection, Lady 



292 REMINISCENCES OF HIS SISTER. 



Bonrilly was taken from him, poor Sir Samuel had no 
comforter to go to. His heart broke, and in the frenzy of 
his grief he destroyed himself. It is likely that we, too, 
who have to wait some time for our completed happiness 
on earth, may again have to wait a little while — the one 
in the absence of the other — for our completer happiness 
in heaven. But whoever be the one whose lot is to tarry 
in the body when the other is gone home, Annie, may 
the Lord give that one a meek and weaned spirit, willing 
to wait the happy hour ' when death- divided friends shall 
meet to part no more.' " 

" 9 Upper Rock Gardens, Brighton, 
Oct. 10, 1845. 

" My dear Annie, — . . . What were you doing on the 
10th October 1838 ? That was the day when I was 
licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, — the day of the 
highest wind I ever remember. We then lived in George 
Square, and I do not wonder that some who then lived 
in it feel Lansdowne Place a dull exchange. It was a 
sweet and peaceful abode, but in less than a month there- 
after an event occurred which made it for some time a 
sad one. My sister Mary died on the 5 th Nov. She was 
eighteen, and for the last two years of her life had been 
very delicate. She was full of gentle goodness, and though 
not so brilliant as an older sister who died seven years 
before, had mind enough to make her interesting without 
making her formidable." 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, Nov. 19, 1845. 
" . . . When coming down stairs on Monday morning 
(I am ashamed to say it was a quarter-past nine), I met 



AN OPERATION FOR CATARACT. 293 

Miss Fector coming in. She had come with £50 for the 
Schemes of the Church, — a thank-offering from her mother. 
It seems that Mrs. Fector had a cataract in her eye, and 
was intending to undergo the usual operation for its 
removal, but she did not like the idea of the operation 
much more than the prospect of losing the eye, and she 
prayed very earnestly that, if it were the Lord's will, He 
would remove it Himself. Three weeks ago, to her amaze- 
ment, the cataract was gone. She sent for Alexander, the 
oculist, who was to have extracted it ; and he said that it 
was as effectually done as he could have done it ; that it 
was a case almost unprecedented, but had been done by a 
very peculiar action of the muscles of the eye ; so the 
good old lady, in the fulness of her heart, sent this 
acknowledgment. Being so long an Episcopalian, she 
has always been fond of praying out of a book ; but, as 
her daughter told her, she did not find in her book a 
prayer for her eye, and she must allow that it has been 
as effectual as any she ever offered." . . . 

"Hastings, May 16, 1846. 
" . . . At present I am husbanding my voice, and my 
time is divided betwixt books and sauntering walks. I 
feel that it is my duty for the. present to be idle ; but I 
can imagine no more odious combination than health and 
idleness. "Within three doors of this lives the rector of 

, an empty, indolent man ; his children littering 

about the gravel, and himself yawning through the square 
all day. He goes in a fly to W — on Sunday morning, 
' does duty/ and returns in the evening. When I see this 
cumberer of the ground, I am apt to get angry at myself 
for doing nothing." 



29-4 



BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE 



"Bangor, Sept. 8, 1846. 
" Perhaps I am too fond of looking forward, and yet 
whenever I feel as much strength as I have felt the last 
few days, plans and purposes about the future revive very 
strong in me. There are two portions of my ministerial 
life on which I look hack with pleasure — the twenty 
months at Abernyte, and the four years at Eegent Square, 
betwixt January 1, 1842, and January 1, 1846, that is, be- 
twixt the publication of the Church in the House and the 
Mount of Olives ! During the first period God blessed my 
preaching, during the second He opened up a new path of 
usefulness through the press. There is still one thing 
which I would like to try, if the Lord permit. I would 
like to see how much might be made of one congregation. 
I would like to make full proof of my pastorate. I am 
willing to give myself wholly to my own people (at least 
for a season), and by preaching, and personal intercourse, 
and affectionate dealing with young and old, would fain 
see our flock a holy church — a peculiar people. In this 
work, my dearest Annie, I shall have need of you. Per- 
haps it is for this reason that hitherto my exertions have 
been wide- spread, and I have been somewhat of a public 
servant, whilst a young and single man. And now when 
I have the hope of leading a different life, these pastoral 
and home-keeping feelings occur to my mind. But be that 
as it may, I am sure that it is a great advantage to one who 
wishes to be a pastor to be a married man, especially if his 
wife be a help-meet for him. I look forward to the day 
when we shall have schools connected with the church, 
and when we may both fill up an hour usefully and 



OF A WELL-ORDERED FAMILY. 



295 



pleasantly among the children, and by-and-bye amongst 
the parents. And though hitherto I have been grievously 
disheartened by such specimens of poverty as I have tried 
to help, I would not abandon the hope of doing something 
among the poor. 

" I hope, too, that you may find a few congenial and 
estimable friends in the congregation. But my main 
hope of our doing good in our new capacity is by 
the silent influence of example, — by being 'patterns to 
the flock* of what married people should be. I would 
like our house and all our arrangements to have so much 
order without stiffness ; so much neatness, without expense 
or show ; that the quiet comfort and Christian simplicity 
of our home should be itself a lesson. I rather, I fear, 
love arrangement and method in other people than ex- 
emplify it myself ; but I do love it, and often think of 
a saying of Mr. Martin of Westminster, ' I wish to re- 
member that the eye of God is in each drawer of my 
writing-table.' I love it, and with your help, dear Annie, 
I am now willing to make an effort towards its practice. 
I am enlarging beyond my intention ; but if you invite 
a continuance of these meditations, I will go on." 

"Festintog, Sept. 22, 1846. 
"... And now to resume our meditations. However 
retired we live, the minister's family, like the minister's 
self, is sure to be the subject of observation, and to a 
certain extent this is natural, and, if rightly improved by 
us, may be rendered useful, for we should be patterns to 
the flock. On this account we must in our mode of living 



296 



ECONOMICS. 



cultivate plainness and simplicity. "We do not need tG 
give parties, and this, besides saving trouble to the lady 
of the house, saves a great deal of useless expenditure — 
useless, because nobody is the more esteemed or loved for 
giving a gay entertainment. It is not possible to live in 
London without incurring serious outlay. House-rent 
alone has hitherto absorbed a fourth of my income, and 
for cabs and omnibuses I spend thirty or forty pounds 
a year, besides the expense of more distant journeys. 
Since coming to London I have subdued my propensity 
to book-buying, but still a minister must buy books — 
they are the implements of his industry. By the time 
that the requisite household and personal expenses are 
defrayed, there cannot much remain for the savings bank. 
And then there is an item more urgent than house-rent — 
I mean charity, including contributions to the missionary 
and other schemes of the Church. I do not think that 
people's comfort depends on their income. That income 
will be very much what good sense and self-denial make 
it ; and as you have both of these qualities, I am in great 
hope that we shall hit the golden mean of comfort with- 
out profusion, and simplicity without shabbiness. Instead 
of incurring debt or exceeding one's income, the true 
wisdom is to try and save, though it were only twenty 
pounds a year. A saving to this amount, or getting into 
debt to this amount, makes all the difference between 
indigence and independence. If people feel that they are 
spending all their revenue, and perhaps a little more, they 
have no heart to give away money, and very little enjoy- 
ment of those good things which their money has pro- 



FEMALE CHARACTER. 



297 



cured for them. We shall soon see what we are about, 
and must shape our plans accordingly. 

" Dearest Annie, notwithstanding your invitation, I 
am almost ashamed to go on in this strain, as if I 
were dictating to you, or telling you things which 
you had not thought of before, some of which dear 
mamma is better able to expound than 1 am. But 
sometimes it is useful 'in order to stir up the mind by 
way of remembrance,' to mark down those things the 
carrying out of which in daily life makes a useful and 
respected character. I will therefore add one more. It 
is the ungallant remark of Mr. Jay, — ' If the Graces were 
female, so were the Furies.' There is one slight founda- 
tion for the remark. I do think that, generally speaking, 
ladies are more sifting in their criticisms and more severe 
in their judgments, more apt to credit an unkind report 
and resent a wrong, and consequently more ready to fall 
into little sects and coteries, than are gentlemen — (I say 
' generally speaking,' for it would not be difficult to quote 
instances of female generosity and forgiveness). And 
this perhaps is one reason for what has sometimes been 
remarked, that ministers were more useful before their 
marriage than after it. Their wives were gossips, and 
listened to everybody's story, and told their husbands 
what this one and that other had been heard to say about 
him, till they filled the poor minister's mind with preju- 
dices against half his flock, or even split the congregation 
into little sects and cliques, till the minister's heart was 
chilled and his usefulness was at an end. 

"Now I do think that our congregation is toler- 



298 



TRAVELS IN WALES. 



ably exempt from partisanship and evil- speaking, but 
there are doubtless different sets of people, and these 
by-and-bye might grow into sects. Of course each 
would like to reckon the minister's wife one of their 
set. But the best way is to be so kind to all as to 
be committed to none. Some will be so good and 
amiable that you will naturally make them your friends, 
but they must give you their friendship without insist- 
ing on your taking up their antipathies ; and with your 
natural circumspection, aided by the wisdom from above, 
I think it will be possible for you to walk in such a per- 
fect way that none can justly call you cold, and yet 
none be able to claim you for their coterie. These are 
some of the practical duties which lie before us. I 
am glad that there are such. It is in this way that 
married life supplies an additional means of glorifying 
God and fulfilling His wilL" 

" Bellevue Hotel, Aberystwith, 
Saturday evening, Sept. 26, 1846. 

" My dearest Annie, — The equinox brought its usual 
gales, and since Tuesday we have had stormy weather. 
On Wednesday and Thursday it rained so much that, 
except to witness the sublimest of stormy sunsets which 
I ever saw, I scarcely ventured out of doors either day. 
I spent the time in reading Hume's History of England, 
and going over the passages which I had formerly marked 
in Foster's Life. It is not so much the books which one 
reads, as the way that one reads them ; and though it is 
not near so entertaining to travel the ground a second 
time and make extracts and abstracts, it adds fourfold to 



GRANDEUR OF THE OCEAN. 



299 



the value of the first perusal. Some of this sort of work 
I compelled myself to do at Festiniog. Yesterday after- 
noon it cleared up, and in a car we jogged across the 
mountains, eighteen miles to Dolgelly, at the foot of 
Cader-Idris, which we did not reach till dark. This 
morning it rained so terribly that we all thought Dolgelly 
a dismal-looking place, and were glad to take inside 
places in the coach to Aberystwith. The road is hilly, 
and ours was the slowest coach in which I ever travelled. 
It took more than seven hours to thirty-five miles ; but 
he was a good-natured man the driver, and the coach and 
the horses were his own, all his own, — for, as he said him- 
self, he had no partner but his wife, and as he was anxious 
to save the horses, and was willing to let me down to 
gather mosses, and was willing to stop as long as we 
pleased in the village where we changed, nobody could 
find in their heart to be angry. I saw in him what an 
impenetrable coat of mail good-nature is, for though I 
sometimes felt that I ought to scold him, I am sure I 
never spoke to him without a smile on my face. . . . 
Oh, dearest, how I wish I had you here, listening to 
the ocean's billowy psalm ! It is dark, very dark, and I 
cannot see the slender moon which we saw last night like 
a horn of silver sinking into a mountain top ; so dark is 
it that we can no longer make out those long foam-ridges 
which we watched an hour ago, nor see the spray dashed 
far over the reefs ; but the darkness makes the sound 
more audible, and there it is booming and rattling and 
moaning away, just as the billows, and the shingle, and 
the distant tempest did when first I heard their anthem. 



300 



MARRIAGE. 



Andrew gets in ecstacies beside a waterfall, but to me 
there is no grandeur like trie sea. 

" I was counting — how humbly we should count, and 
how submissively we should say, ' If the Lord will ' — but 
if it be His will, I was counting that it is just one hundred 
days from this to that other day which I have so long 
desired. Over how many obstacles has that gracious 
Preserver brought me, brought us, to this day ! And 
if He be pleased to bring us to that other, how deeply 
bound shall we be to consecrate our happier lives anew 
to Him!" 

" Hereford, Tuesday evening, Sept. 29. 
" On Sabbath we heard two excellent sermons in the 
parish church. The vicar, Mr. Hughes, is a good old man, 
and being this, we were delighted to see his large congre- 
gation. Altogether, we enjoyed last Sabbath greatly." 

Although he speaks plainly wherever an example of in- 
dolence or unfaithfulness crosses his path, his eye is open 
to see good in the Established Church, and his heart to 
receive it. Indeed, the habitual elevation of his spirit 
towards the Head kept him singularly free from sectional 
prejudices. 

Mr. Hamilton was married at Willenhall on 5th January 
1847. 



CHAPTEE VII. 



1847-1849. 

Upon Ms return to London late in 1846, with Lis health 
in good measure restored, Mr. Hamilton began his ministry 
with renewed earnestness. During his enforced silence 
he had considered deeply what he ought to say if his lips 
should again be opened. At once he began to execute his 
long-cherished plan of giving some lectures on the evi- 
dences of revealed religion at the ordinary hour of public 
worship on the Lord's day. In his own judgment this 
was a service which the Lord required of him, and he 
loyally rendered it 3 in spite of formidable difficulties that 
crossed his path. In simplicity of heart, and with a far- 
reaching purpose, he adopted and prosecuted this method 
as the best contribution it was in his power to make for 
the cause of the Gospel There is no question at all 
regarding the purity of his aim and the singleness of his 
eye in the whole transaction ; but there may be room for 
doubt as to the soundness of his judgment, in as far as, 
while able for only one discourse each Sabbath, he sub- 
stituted for a time an argument on the evidences for the 
preaching of the Gospel in the ordinary way. 

"London, Dec. 16, 1846. 

" My dear William, — . . . Though I preach only once 



302 



COURSE ON THE EVIDENCES. 



each Sabbath, yet a short course on the evidences gives 
occasion for abundance of reading, and perhaps more care- 
ful composition, than ordinary lectures. I have delivered 
six of the nine which I originally projected, and every 
Sabbath that passes and adds one to the series, I feel so 
thankful. I hope that if completed they will do a con- 
siderable amount of good. I have frequently noticed par- 
ticular hearers much impressed. It is only in places like 
this that such a course is likely to be useful, or indeed would 
be justifiable. I have enjoyed ' strong consolation' in my 
own soul while surveying the immoveable foundations of 
the faith, and have been much affected by the kind pro- 
vidence of God in preserving the evidence so abundant 
and entire." 

At a meeting held on 19th January 1847, the first full 
and regular report of the congregation's work was sub- 
mitted. It is an able, comprehensive, and instructive 
document. 1 Indeed it approaches the character of a trea- 
tise on educational and evangelistic effort. It contains 
a sketch of what had been done or attempted during the 
two preceding years, and submits bold yet wise schemes 
for the future. Although not much is said of the mini- 
ster's own department, the report bears evidence that his 
spirit is felt in the centre of operations, and that he has 
already gathered around himself a body of intelligent and 
energetic Christian philanthropists. 

Besides notices of the mission begun in Corfu, and the 

1 Drawn up by Dr. A. P. Stewart, a fellow-student formerly at Glasgow, 
and at that time one of the deacons of Regent Square. 



CITY MISSION WORK. 



303 



mission meditated in China, it goes fully and heartily 
into the problem regarding the degraded condition of the 
masses in various districts of the city of London. In 
certain districts contiguous to Eegent Square the visitors 
discover a population of more than ten thousand, sunk in 
poverty and ignorance and vice. Schools on Sabbath and 
on week-days are forthwith planted, humble at first, but 
rapidly advancing both in bulk and efficiency. Mis- 
sionaries are engaged, and paid to devote their whole 
strength to the locality, and many, both of men and 
women, contribute their own personal exertions. Red 
tape is finally thrown away, and a raid is made upon the 
bush, and the wild things that find cover there, without 
counting cost or keeping by the tracks of former opera- 
tors. A lady, finding that to teach city Arabs for an 
hour on Sunday makes little impression on their life, 
obtains a room and teaches them herself on the week- 
days also. The missionary, finding no opening in the 
morning to the busy adults, fills up the time by collecting 
a class of children who are employed later in the day, and 
teaching them to read between the hours of nine and 
eleven. One of his hopeful scholars is a little girl, whose 
brother is a blind fiddler. He needs her to lead him 
through the streets, but as he does not commence the 
labours of his calling till near noon, the missionary is 
welcome to teach her the way of life at a time when no 
other use can be made of her. 

For some years at that period their lay missionary, Mr. 
Sinclair, in a simple but wise and inventive way, rendered 
effective service on that difficult field. 



304 young men's association. 



We learn incidentally that after Mr. Hamilton's settle- 
ment a great increase took place in the number of the 
Sabbath- school teachers; and, as encouragement to attend- 
ance at certain monthly meetings, it is intimated that 
"Mr. Hamilton will deliver a missionary address;" but 
instead of doing, or seeming to do, all himself, the com- 
parative silence regarding his work maintained in the 
report accords to him the greater praise of inducing many 
to consecrate their talents in concert to the work of the 
Lord. 

Among other departments of the congregation's wide- 
spread agency, the Young Men's Association is specially 
mentioned. It was first constituted on 2 2d September 
1841, and the date of its birth reveals the influence with 
which it originated. This association has continued in 
vigour till this day, and has exercised a beneficent in- 
fluence on a generation. Affectionate reference is made 
to members who even at that early stage had left the city 
for other spheres of duty, and specifically to Mr. Alexander 
Swan, one of their number, who had lately settled at 
Folkestone, as superintendent of the engineering works of 
the Continental Steam-Packet Company, and whose in- 
fluence had already been successfully employed in dimin- 
ishing the amount of Sabbath labour in the affairs of a 
great mercantile copartnery. 

From this time forward a full report of congregational 
work was prepared and printed annually. The series 
amounts now to two goodly volumes, and constitutes a 
noble monument of intelligent, energetic, and patient 
Christian work for the age and for its great metropolis. 



CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS. 



" 7 IiAJfSDpwNB Place, Jan. 25, 1847. 

" My dear Mamma, — . . . This last week I heard 
of six instances of good done by the Lectures on the 
Evidences." . . . 

About this time he manifested an unwonted tendency 
to defend his own course as to the character of the lec- 
tures which he addressed to the congregation on the 
Lord's day. It may be frankly confessed that he was 
thrown into an attitude of defence by adverse judgments 
which reached him from many quarters. Among others, 
the late eminently amiable and pious Duchess of Gordon 
pronounced rigorously against him. Having come to 
Eegent Square one Sabbath, according to her wont when 
in London, she was shocked to find that the time was 
occupied with criticism of ancient manuscripts and quota- 
tions from the early fathers, instead of the usual procla- 
mation of mercy to sinners through the blood of Christ. 
Her opinion was conveyed to the minister, whether by 
letter or through the report of a third party, I do not 
remember. Without abandoning his own judgment, he 
was always ready to explain the grounds on which it 
rested. Accordingly he addressed a letter to the Duchess, 
containing a full exposition of his views. He showed that 
he remained of the same mind as formerly regarding the 
one way of salvation, and that, in the course to which she 
objected, he was, according to his best judgment, becoming 
all things to all men that he might gain some. His 
remark to a friend afterwards was, " The good Duchess 
never answered me, and the good Duchess never returned 
to Eegent Square." 

U 



306 



CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS. 



It was a case in which persons equally sound in the 
faith, but providentially led by different paths, and look- 
ing on the world from different view-points, formed diverse 
conclusions regarding the expediency of a specific course, 
and of its fitness to promote the kingdom of Christ. For 
our own part, we love the Duchess none the less, that, hav- 
ing no need of more argument for the confirmation of her 
faith, she was unwilling to spend even one Sabbath in 
listening to the reasonings which might convince the gain- 
sayer ; but, on the other hand, we the more regard James 
Hamilton as an able minister of the New Testament, that, 
knowing the stability which a consideration of the evi- 
dences imparted to his own mind, he sympathized with 
honest doubts and grieved over flippant unbelief, and so 
dared, contrary to the usual routine, to meet the wants of 
a class in London whose souls were precious, and were in 
special danger of being led astray. 

The result was, as might indeed have been predicted 
from the nature of the case, that he received more of 
articulate and emphatic approval, and also more of articu- 
late and emphatic condemnation, of this course of lectures, 
than of any other course in the exercise of his ministry. 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, April 2, 1847. 

" My dear William, — . . . This is Good Friday, a nice, 
quiet day for study. No visitors. The town quiet, like 
the country. Nothing open except Episcopal churches, 
bakers' shops and fishmongers' — the latter for the sale of 
hot- cross buns and salt fish, all three, churches, buns, and 
fish, being alike means of grace in the eyes of many people 



CAMOENS 5 " LU3IAD." 



307 



here. I have read a good piece of Simeon's Life. At Dr. 
Hanna's request, I think I shall make it the foundation of 
a paper for the Xorth British. It is very delightful to go 
back to those fresh days and fervent spirits. — Tour ever 
affectionate brother, James Hamilton." 

The paper on " Simeon and his Predecessors," or rather, 
as it might vrith greater accuracy have been designated, 
11 His Predecessors and Simeon," appeared in due time in 
the Xorth British Review. It is one of the freshest and 
most vigorous of his essays, — a prose poem on a great 
spiritual struggle and revival It is reprinted in vol. iv. 
of his collected works. 

« Lo>-do>-, April 26, 1S47. 

" My dear Ahdkew, — . . . Our Synod met on Tues- 
day. Arnot was unanimously chosen Professor of Divinity. 
I do not know whether he will accept. Wnt C. Burns 
was present, declared his willingness to go to China, and 
when asked when he would be ready, answered, 'To- 
morrow. I have all mv things with me. and would rather 
go at once/ Accordingly he was, after the precedent of 
Acts xiii, set apart to the work on the morrow, and pro- 
ceeded to London, where he is now. 

"A new edition of Camoens' Lusiacl (Portuguese), 
noticed in last Athenccum, brought twenty years ago to 
remembrance. I read it then in a huge quarto translation, 
and remember nothing but one thing, a voyage. Indeed, 
a very slight effort of fancy will transform that Eussia- 
leather quarto any day into an old-fashioned galley with 
every sail spread, heaving slowly along over a surging sea. 



308 



WILLIAM BURNS. 



However, it is something if one get a single idea from 
each book one reads, or each town one visits. From Sun- 
derland I carried nothing away but its lofty bridge of 
iron, with the ships far below it. Were Turner standing 
on that bridge some evening, and letting his eyes dazzle 
into luxurious indistinctness, he might make of the long 
lines of craft, and the forest of masts seen from above, and 
the rippled water, one of those mysterious and unfathom- 
able pictures which you never can make out entirely, and 
are compelled to look at notwithstanding. The best of 
Wordsworth's poetry seems to me analogous to Turner's 
painting." 

The appointment of Mr. William Burns as the Synod's 
Missionary to China was a great event, and would appear 
great if we could see it from the other side. As a fellow- 
student, I am in a position to bear witness that he pos- 
sessed a strong, manly intellect, and had acquired stores 
of exact learning. But these and all other things were 
in his case so completely subordinated to his zeal for 
Christ's kingdom in the world, that they were not per- 
mitted to appear. Not more than two or three, if any, 
missionaries in modern times have equalled him in eleva- 
tion above the earth, and absolute devotion to the risen 
Bedeemer's wish and will. The Spirit dwelt in William 
Burns with a sort of Pentecostal power, carrying him away 
as by a rushing, mighty wind. Only the day shall de- 
clare his work ; for, of all missionaries, he was the most 
reticent. In China, long before the country was opened 
by treaty, he deliberately abandoned his base on the sea 



" QUITTING THE MANSE." 



309 



and plunged alone into the heart of the country, dressing, 
and eating, and speaking like the natives, that he might 
win them to Christ. We shall hear of this mission from 
time to time, as our narrative proceeds. Mr. Hamilton 
had charge of it, as convener of committee, from its com- 
mencement till the period of his own death. 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, May 14, 1847. 

"My dear Mamma, — If not to-morrow, at least on 
Monday, we hope to hear of your safe arrival. We both 
miss you very much. The house is not the same without 
you, and people pity two helpless young creatures like us 
left to ourselves. On Wednesday we went to the Eoyal 
Academy Exhibition to console ourselves. There is a 
capital picture there by Harvey of Edinburgh, — " Quitting 
the Manse." We recognised a good many likenesses, — 
Mr. Bruce, Eox Maule, Campbell of Monzie, etc. This 
morning I breakfasted with Dr. Chalmers. Isaac Taylor, 
Morell, your metaphysical acquaintance, and Baptist Noel 
were there. By the days of the week it is twenty 
years since the Doctor opened Eegent Square (Friday, 
May 11, 1827), so the talk was mostly about E. Irving. 
Mr. Taylor's view of his character was very just, and 
many interesting things were said and told. — Ever your 
affectionate son, James Hamilton." 

TO MR. ARNOT. 

" My dear Friend, — Very possibly it may end in my 
coming to Glasgow after all ; but there are some reasons 



310 IMPORTANCE OF PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE, 



why I would prefer remaining here, e.g., the expense, my 
lothness to leave home after repeated and lengthened 
absenteeism, my having promised an article to the North 
British, which, in that event, I could not write. Nor do I 
really think it will be needful. Surely when you get to a 
standing-point high enough, and see the vastness of this 
opportunity, you will make up your mind so resolutely 
that no urgency will be able to detain you. Here it is. A 
vitalized Presbyterianism might, under God, be the present 
salvation of England. I have no security about the 
English Establishment. If things go on as at present, in 
twenty years its rulers will not endure sound doctrine. 
There will be no place found for Evangelism within its 
pale. . . . There is a very considerable craving for Eree 
Church preaching, a craving which a little more strength 
in our Church, and a little less stiffness in our ministers, 
might convert into a perfect rage. But the power of our 
Church, both to create and meet this demand, resides in 
the college. I only repeat that it is a vitalized Presbyte- 
rianism, sound doctrine in warm English hearts, and from 
fluent English lips, guided by Scottish sense, and systema- 
tically propagated by Presbyterian organization, which 
promises, in the hand of the quickening Spirit, to retrieve 
the interests of Evangelical piety in England. 

" Now, my dear Arnot, you have open eyes, and a fresh 
and active mind, and power of adapting to circumstances. 
If you were here, you would soon see how the land lies, 
and what the present exigencies of this England are, 
and you would train and instruct our students accord- 
ingly. . . . 



FREE CHUECH FAILS TO SUPPLY COLLEGE. 311 



* I know that you will not found a new school in theo- 
logy, but I believe that yon will put new life in the old 
one. And I firmly believe, if you come here in high 
heart and hope, and with a two years' stock of patience, 
that you will be blessed by God to render a most signal 
service to the Christianity of this empire. 

" Send me a line, and if your path is not plain I will try 
to come down ; but oh ! how thankful I would be to hear 
that your doubts were ended." 

" May 26th. 

" I wish you could have considered this question in the 
dispassionate atmosphere of London, or at all events on 
the neutral territory of the border. You must make a 
great allowance for the deflection of the pendulum in the 
neighbourhood of such a Schehallion as St. Peter's. . . . 

" Dr. Chalmers has no doubt that a regard for wider 
interests requires you to come to us. He said so to a 
friend of mine." 

I cannot now form a judgment on the question how far 
Mr. Hamilton's ardent anticipations of spiritual benefit to 
England would have been fulfilled if the Free Church and 
her individual ministers had at that period heartily re- 
sponded to his call, and fully equipped the college and 
the principal churches in the south : but any one can 
judge easily and surely that his advocacy does him the 
highest honour. 

This attempt, like many of those which preceded it, 
failed not from an unwillingness on the part of the minister 



312 FREE CHURCH FAILS TO SUPPLY COLLEGE. 



who was called, but because the Presbytery that judged 
in the case gave all their moral influence against it, and 
refused to share in any degree the responsibility of the 
translation. 1 

" London, July 16, 1847. 

" My deae Andrew, — For some days I have been very 
anxious to write, as you might be thinking it long, but I 
have been sadly hindered. The first week of June, as you 
know, was devoted to Glasgow and Arnot. The third 
week was occupied by Dr. Candlish and others, who had 
come up as a deputation for the Free Church Missions. Last 
week I had to go to Liverpool, on an errand of the Synod, 
and I have had more than usual work visiting among the 
people, as well as more fatigue, having resumed two 
sermons on Sabbath. Amidst all this, I have been strug- 
gling to get ready two articles for the North British, — one 
on Simeon and his predecessors, the other on Dr. Chalmers. 
But I have found it very difficult, for I went on the prin- 
ciple of neglecting no invalid, no committee, no work, 
which I should otherwise have done, and have been obliged 
to rise early, and take refuge sometimes in the church. 
To-day, having sent off the second proof, I feel quite 
relieved, and give my emancipated pen to you. 

"Being disappointed of Arnot, our College Committee 
has turned its thoughts to your present neighbour, Merle 
d'Aubigne. Last week I wrote to him, and, unless he puts 

1 The Presbytery of Glasgow refused, on technical grounds, to permit an 
appeal to the Assembly, although both the English commissioners and the 
minister whom they had called pleaded for that favour, in order to obtain 
the deliberate judgment of the Church. 



PROPOSAL TO INVITE MERLE d'aUBIGNE. 313 

a peremptory veto on it, we will likely send Mm a deputa- 
tion of one or two. To me, there is nothing chimerical in 
the proposal. He knows English. He would have the 
command of abundant libraries. We would do everything 
to make him comfortable. He would have the half of 
every year for study. He would be attended by many 
who do not mean to become Presbyterian ministers. He 
would be in a condition to put the stamp and impress 
on a rising church which he deemed most Christian and 
evangelical. It is very likely that the Free Church will 
invite Dr. Duff to succeed Dr. Chalmers. I have also 
heard some hint of their trying Merle d'Aubigne, but I 
sincerely think he would bestow himself much better on 
us than on Scotland. He might mould us, but Scotland 
is so strong that no individual can be much else than what 
the Free Church is. I enclose a note to Dr. Merle, but by 
this time you have probably met him. Eoss of Brighton 
gets on admirably. His church is filling. He published 
a funeral sermon for Dr. Chalmers (one of ten which I 
have seen advertised), really able and original : along with 
J. Macaulay, he dined with us on Wednesday, and came 
out very racy. He knows Carlyle ; and I think has a 
slight infusion. I charged him with it, but he disowns it. 
He and Welsh of Liverpool are our most powerful men. 
The Eiver Terrace people have called Mr. Weir of Belfast, 
and he will be settled in a fortnight. James Stewart was 
licensed at last Presbytery. 

"You are much to be envied at actual Geneva, the 
- Mother dear Jerusalem ' of John Knox's Scotland, and 
Beza's home, besides all your lettered friends, Eousseau, 



314 



GENEVA. 



De Stael, Gibbon, Byron, Shelley. For rne, Vinet seems 
the finest thinker, most evangelical, yet fresh, on all the 
Continent. I should like much that his life were written. 
Dr. Wilson of Bombay is about to proceed up the Bhine, 
and pass your way, most likely, on the route to India. 
Perhaps you may forgather. He has published two thick 
volumes of Eastern travel. He is really one of Bacon's 
' full ' men, brimming with information and communica- 
tive alacrity. Have you been to hear the Banz des 
Yaches ? or to eat a glacier ? (with us, has been a week 
of torrid weather, ice- suggesting) or drink milk in a 
mountain chalet? I enjoyed both your Abbey rapture 
and (though second-hand, via Stonehouse) your ascent of 
the Drachenfels." 

TO MR. W. HAMILTON. 

"Ryde, August 27, 1847. 

" I see in the present state of matters few symptoms of 
progress and denominational enlargement. Collectively 
we are wanting in that ardour and disinterestedness and 
unity of purpose which are essential to a rising and 
triumphant cause. . . . 

" As for the idea of my giving lectures, even if I were 
to be stronger this winter than I have ever been, I would 
not attempt it. I want to preach. Hitherto it has been 
my fault to dabble in too many things, and the pulpit 
has not got justice. I wish to do my very utmost there 
before I die/' 

"Ryde, I. of Wight, Aug. 28, 1847. 
" On the 25th of October I resumed my work, preaching 
till the beginning of summer only the half of each Sabbath. 



RETROSPECT REGARDING APOLOGETIC LECTURES. 315 



In pursuance of my plan, and after asking wisdom from 
above, I gave a short course of eight lectures on the 
Evidences as the commencement of my new curriculum. 
I told the reasons for my doing it, and, as some of the 
lectures might have a more secular sound than was usual 
in our Sabbath-day discourses, and as they might be 
superfluous to those who were fully persuaded in their 
own minds, I entreated beforehand the forbearance of the 
members of the church, and begged their prayers that God 
would bless them to the conviction and instruction of 
those young men and undecided persons for whom they 
were especially intended. And in order more effectually 
to obviate prejudice, I put into the lectures as much 
essential truth as I could, and tried to make the landing- 
place of each the direct Gospel. But they were not * the 
good old thing.' They were fresh, and they required 
attention. They made the historic truth too vivid, and 
they disturbed the perfunctory class who love to take 
things for granted. I could read discontent on the face of 
the congregation, and though I worked at them as hard 
as I could, the complaints and murmurings which daily 
reached me made it up-hill work. Some of the most 
pious hearers absented themselves from church till this 
heathenish course should be ended, and I was told that if 
I persisted I should disperse the congregation. ... I 
know that Mr. Hamilton took my part against others who 
censured, but I believe that both he and Mr. Gillespie 
(who were too kind to say anything against them) were 
heartily glad when they were done. Except my mother 
and a few of the deacons, I do not recollect one voice of 



316 



M'CHEYNE AND BURNS. 



positive approval and encouragement, and had it not been 
for a firm conviction of duty I could not have gone on. 
Had the course been printed, I might have called the book 

Benoni. 

"I still believe I was right. At a subsequent com- 
munion several of the candidates proved to be the fruits 
of this series. And by-and-bye I heard of some intelligent 
families who had in consequence taken seats in the church ; 
and for these tokens of approbation I felt unusually 
thankfuL This experiment has taught me a good deal. 
. . . Even those who have been led into some know- 
ledge of the truth have no patience for the process by 
which their minister seeks to lead others into it. 

" I cannot say that this experiment has abated my love 
for my people. Eobert M'Cheyne told me that when he 
came back from Palestine, many of the people were dis- 
appointed at his return. They would rather have had 
William Burns. His sin had been to idolize his congre- 
gation, and he felt their estrangement a rebuke from God. 
In a different way, I had idolized Eegent Square. They 
had contributed so largely to the Free Church Building 
Fund, and done so many things of which I was proud, 
and I gave them credit for tolerance and enlargement of 
mind beyond most congregations. I was sure of their love, 
and was conscious of a yearning affection towards them, 
and felt that with them I might venture almost anything." 

"Ryde, Aug. 30, 1847. 
" What goodness and mercy have met me since I wrote 
the first lines of this little book at Bangor a year ago ! I 



" EMBLEMS FKOM EDEN." 



317 



then crept about a pensive invalid, not knowing whether 
my earthly desire should ever be fulfilled, and whether I 
should be restored to my work and people again. 

" On the 5th of January that desire was fulfilled, and 
Annie became my own. Already eight months of new 
and peculiar happiness have passed, and the longer we 
live the more our minds grow into one another. 

" And for more than nine months I have preached about 
every Sabbath, and some Sabbaths twice. 

"Besides which, I have published four tracts — China, 
and The Vine, Cedar, and Palm, the sermon after Mr. 
Wilson's funeral (he was in full vigour when I thought 
myself dying), and two articles in the North British 
Review, to which I may add a sketch of Matthew Henry, 
written since coming here. 

" Heavenly Father, how can I sufficiently magnify Thy 
mercy to a sinful worm ! Thou knowest my foolishness, 
and though pride and vanity would often overrate my 
importance to my fellow-mortals, I know that my good- 
ness extendeth not to Thee. Let my own vileness make me 
humble, and Thy munificence make me thankful. And 
should I be longer spared, sanctify and kindle me into a 
living sacrifice." 

The tale of work for the press this year does not bulk 
so largely ; but its quality quite sustained his character. 
The tract on China was the right word, spoken at the 
right time. It filled a blank and exerted a power. An 
interest in that vast and mysterious empire had begun to 
spring up in the country, but information regarding its 



318 



"EMBLEMS FEOM EDEN." 



condition was very scanty. Hamilton possessed the rare 
and useful faculty of observing exactly where the want 
lay and what would supply it ; then his stores of miscel- 
laneous knowledge and his ready pen were at hand to deal 
the appropriate blow at the appropriate moment. His 
tract was, like all the products of his pen, graphic and 
lively ; it was greedily read, and it did much to popularize 
and spread whatever authentic information was at that 
time accessible regarding China as a field for Christian 
missions. The subjects with which it deals have now 
become familiar ; but at the time of its publication the long 
closed gates of that distant and dark realm were only about 
to be opened to the commerce and Christianity of the west. 

The Vine, The Cedar, and The Palm were a series of 
religious tracts. They were written with the view of pre- 
senting the gospel in a form attractive alike to common 
people, and to the cultivated classes. As the names imply, 
each tractate endeavoured to suspend the doctrines of grace 
upon a parallel from nature — as forest trees are pressed into 
service to sustain the feeble but fruitful branches of the vine. 
Several of them have been translated into two or more 
European languages, including Dutch and Swedish, where 
through a revived evangelism a demand for such literature 
arose. These, with some others of kindred character, 
were afterwards published as a volume, under the general 
title Emblems from Eden, and are included in the uniform 
edition of his works. 

"Hyde, Sept. 1, 1847. 
" My deae William, — ... I mean to act more on 
your advice hereafter. I am quite satisfied with the course 



OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS. 



319 



I have hitherto pursued, as a thing past, but hereafter 1 
shall accept whatever remuneration is offered me for any- 
thing I may write. I got £30 for my papers in the last 
North British. I read Foster's Life at Ems, and marked 
a great many memorabilia. But I had not the enjoyment 
of Foster personally that I have had of Arnold and 
Eomilly and some others whose lives I have read with a 
consciousness of congeniality. There are few more read- 
able compositions than Macaulay's contributions to the 
Edinburgh Review. I was at a volume this week, but 
their moral tone is low. I have been much struck by a 
very original poem, Festus, by Bailey, who was my coeval 
in the logic class at Glasgow. 

" Vestry of Mr. Ferguson's Chuech, 
Liverpool, Oct. 6, 1847. 

"My deakest Annie, — 'Let dogs delight/ etc., would 
be a good hymn with which to open the Lancashire Pres- 
bytery meetings. We have been occupied for hours trying 
to restore peace and harmony in this quarrelsome body. 
It is a pity, for they are all good men, but ill assorted. — 
Your ever affectionate husband, James Hamilton." 

Let the playful tone of this remark pass in considera- 
tion of the quarter to which it is addressed ; but its sub- 
stance may remain as a lesson to all whom it may concern. 
In these matters it is certain that James Hamilton did 
not claim for himself a license which he reproved in others. 
It is the testimony of survivors that one of the great 
benefits that the Church derived from his talents and 
character, consisted in the soothing and healing influence 



320 PROJECT OF SERMONS TO VARIOUS CLASSES. 



of his presence in Church Courts. He was watchful and 
skilful to interpose with something both good-humoured 
and humorous whenever he perceived that zeal was threat- 
ening unawares to grow too warm. His peculiar grave 
playfulness was an admirable non-conductor, keeping spark 
asunder from spark, and so preventing a conflagration. 
Since this temporary spurt has been incidently mentioned, 
it ought to be recorded here that the Presbytery of Lanca- 
shire are noted for the gravity and order of their procedure. 

" October 22, 1847. — ... I have got a premature 
copy of the first volume of Dr. Chalmers (Memoir by Dr. 
Hanna), and have read enough to feel that all is right and 
safe, and that the book will add to the Church's wealth and 
his own renown/' 

"October 26, 1847.— The month of September was de- 
voted to a course of sermons on Philippi, i.e., Lydia and 
the jailer. A blessing seemed to attend them. Frequently 
the people listened with solemnity, and several have since 
opened their minds and expressed their anxiety about 
their souls. 

"I have in contemplation a course of lectures on the 
application of Christianity to the various ranks and pro- 
fessions of life, — teacher, merchant, labourer, servant, etc., 
in which I may use up my reading in Christian biography, 
the department of Christian literature with which I am 
best acquainted. 

" At present I am happy. The ministry is not without 
tokens of God's approval and presence. The prayer-meet- 
ing last night was excellently attended, and I was much 
affected by Mr. Webster's prayer and Mr. Eobertson's. 
Mr. Msbet presided. Ten days ago we paid a pleasant 



EARLY HOUKS. 



321 



visit to Mr. Thomson at Haysden. Yesterday passed a 
delightful hour with Mrs. Finnic The accounts from 
Scotland good, our own home full of sweet tranquility." 

" London, Nov. 2, 1847. 
" My deae Mother, — . . . Following an advice of Dr. 
Darling, I intimated from the pulpit that I did not wish 
to see visitors on Fridays and Saturdays, nor on Tuesdays, 
"Wednesdays, and Thursdays till after one. This is now 
coming into operation, and I find it a great comfort, but 
even with this caveat I sometimes get into arrears. Last 
Sabbath morning I rose at five, and Annie rose too and 
gave me coffee, and lay at my feet on the rug and cried. 
She has got as great a horror of London work as you used 
to have, but amidst it all I rather gain than lose. And at 
present it looks as if some good were done. At night the 
church is nearly filled, in the morning quite, and several 
have called on me in deep concern — young men and 
women. After the Communion I intend a course of even- 
ing sermons on Christianity exemplified and applied in 
the different callings and professions of life : the servant, 
the labourer, the teacher, the man of business, the man of 
science, the man of letters, the physician, the philanthro- 
pist, the missionary, the private Christian, and the Christian 
family." 

Here we obtain a peep behind the curtain, and what a 
picture ! The minister, slender in body but keen in spirit, 
sitting at his desk at five o'clock on a Sabbath morning, 
in a dull wintry day, and putting forth all his powers 
to find acceptable words for the congregation that will 

x 



322 SERMONS ON LYDIA AND THE JAILER. 

assemble in Eegent Square some six hours hence. His 
young wife, one in spirit with him, has risen at the same 
hour to prepare some refreshment ; but looking into his 
face before she retires, she imagines that symptoms appear 
of a too rapid waste, and a premature decay. She throws 
herself down on the rug, and in a woman's way seeks re- 
lief in a gush of tears. But this is a heroic woman notwith- 
standing. Permit nature in her to have its efflux in its 
own fashion, and she will leave the student undisturbed at 
his work. The sacrifice she thinks is great, but the cause 
is worthy ; she will not drag the minister from his study in 
order to save her husband's life ; she will retire and pray. 

The series of lectures to various classes of society sug- 
gested in this letter was fully accomplished, and speci- 
mens have been included in his collected works. 

TO THE KEV. ANDEEW BONAR. 

" London, November 2, 1847. 

" The congregation is, I trust, in a hopeful state at pre- 
sent, the evening attendance better than it ever was. 
More persons have come to speak about the state of their 
souls within the last six weeks than in any year that I 
have been in London. All September we tarried at 
Philippi with Lydia and the jailer, and the last four ser- 
mons have been on ' Let the word of Christ dwell in you 
richly/ Please to remember that next Sabbath is our 
Communion. I am drawn to the text John i. 29. How is 
it at Collace just now, and in the neighbourhood ? 

" A fortnight ago we baptized a most interesting young 
Jew, Dantziger, the son of a Hamburgh merchant." 



LECTURES TO WORKING MEN AND SERVANTS. 323 



" Bedford Square, Brighton, 
Dec. 2, 1847. 

"My dear William, — ... This treeless town never 
looks wintry, and as the sun shone powerfully, and the 
sky was blue and the ocean calm, and all the Steynes 
bright with gay dresses, and the drives glittering with 
carriages and dancing with riders, it had quite a soothing 
and exhilarating effect on shattered nerves, and at night, 
for the first time this fortnight, I lay down with no fever. 
Going into a shop to-day we found a pile of Life in Ear- 
nest on the counter. The bookseller knew me, and told 
me that Mr. Pease, a Quaker, had given him an unlimited 
order to send a copy to every family whose address he 
knew, hoping that it might have a good effect on the 
frivolous young ladies with whose numbers and non- 
occupation this good Eriend was grieved, as I myself have 
sometimes been." 

But that fortnight's fever is the legitimate offspring of 
the overstrain last month to provide convenient food for 
Eegent Square, " quite full in the morning arid nearly full 
at night." 

7 Lansdowne Place, Dec. 14, 1847. 
"My dear Mamma, — ... On Sabbath evening I 
preached my sermon to working men. The church was 
crowded. The Sabbath before that it was to servants, and 
I have had letters of thanks both from them and their 
mistresses." 

A little snatch of such news as will cheer a mother's 
heart ; our mother shall get the news accordingly. There 
is much pressure upon the minister of Eegent Square at 



324 



" DAYS NUMBERED AND NOTED." 



this time, but not enough to press his mother out of her 
place. 

His sermon on the last Sabbath of the year, from the 
text, " So teach us to number our days," etc., was printed 
at the request of the Session, for private circulation, under 
the title Days Numbered and Noted. It is an interest- 
ing study in connexion with what we now know of his 
inner life during that year. It was a time of quickening 
in his own spirit, and the public ministrations felt the 
glow of the preacher's faith and love. The address is sug- 
gestive and searching. It goes right to the point, and 
keeps nothing back. 

It may not be amiss to introduce a portion of the intro- 
ductory paragraphs. Besides their spiritual lesson, they 
will show the affluence of his analogical resources. 

" The infant passes on to childhood, and the child to 
youth, and the youth to manhood, and the man to old age, 
and he can hardly tell when or how he crossed the boundary. 
On our globes and maps we have lines to mark the parallels 
of distance — but these lines are only on the map. Crossing 
the equator or the tropic, you see no score in the water, no 
line in the sky to mark it ; and the vessel gives no lurch, 
no alarum sounds from the welkin, no call is emitted from 
the deep, and it is only the man of skill, the pilot or the 
captain, with his eye on the signs of heaven, who can tell 
that an event has happened, and that a definite portion of 
the voyage is completed. And so far, our life is like a 
voyage on the open sea, every day repeating its predecessor 
— the same watery plain around and the same blue dome 
above — each so like the other that you might fancy the 



THE VOYAGE OF LIFE. 



325 



charmed ship was standing still. But it is not so. The 
watery plain of to-day is far in advance of the plain of 
yesterday, and the blue dome of to-day may be very like 
its predecessors, but it is fashioned from quite another sky. 

" However, it is easy to see how insidious this process 
is, and how illusive might be the consequence. Imagine 
that in the ship were some passengers — a few young men, 
candidates for an important post in a distant empire. They 
may reasonably calculate on the voyage lasting three 
months or four ; and, provided that before their arrival 
they have acquired a certain science, or learned a com- 
petent amount of a given language, they will instantly be 
promoted to a lucrative and honourable appointment. The 
first few days are lost in the bustle of setting all to rights, 
and in the pangs of the long adieu. But at last one or two 
settle down in solid earnest, and betake themselves to the 
study of the all- important subject, and have not been at 
it long till they alight on the key which makes their after 
progress easy and delightful. To them the voyage is not 
irksome, and the end of it is full of expectation. But 
their comrades pass the time in idleness. They play cards, 
and smoke, and read romances, and invent all sorts of 
frolics to while away the tedium of captivity ; and if a 
more sober companion venture to remonstrate, they ex- 
claim, 'Lots of time. Look how little signs of land. 
True, we have been out of port six weeks ; but it does not 
feel to me as if we had moved a hundred miles. Besides, 
man, we have first to pass the Cape, and after that we may 
manage very well/ And thus on it goes, till one morning 
there is a loud huzza, and every passenger springs on 



326 



THE DOOR WAS SHUT. 



deck. ' Land a-head ! ' « What land ? ' ' Why, the land 
to which we all are bound.' ' Impossible ; we have not 
passed the Cape/ e Yes, indeed ; but we did not put in 
there. Yonder is the coast. We shall drop anchor to- 
night, and must get on shore to-morrow/ And then you 
may see how blank and pale the faces of the loiterers are. 
They feel that all is lost. One takes up the neglected 
volume, and wonders whether anything may be done in 
the remaining hours ; but it all looks so strange and 
intricate, that in despair he flings it down. \ To-morrow 
is the examination-day. To-morrow is the day of trial. 
It is no use now. I have played the fool, and lost my 
opportunity/ Whilst their wiser friends lift up their heads 
with joy, because their promotion draweth nigh. With no 
trepidation, except so much as every thoughtful spirit feels 
when a solemn event is near, without foreboding and with- 
out levity, they look forth to the nearer towers and bright- 
ening minarets of that famed city, which has been the goal 
of many wishes, and the home of many a dream. And as 
they calmly get ready for the hour of landing, the only 
sorrow that they feel is for their heedless companions, who 
have lost a glorious opportunity to make their calling and 
election sure. 

" And so, my dear friends, we here are a ship-full of 
voyagers bound for eternity," etc. 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, March 16, 1848. 

" My dear William, — . . . When Dr. Hanna was here, 
a fortnight ago, we had Mr. Lennox of New York at din- 
ner — quite a state dinner, — Mr. and Mrs. W. Hamilton, 
Mr. Gillespie, Monsieur Bost, the Misses Williams, Dr. 



WOOLWICH AND DEPTFORD. 



327 



Stewart, Jas. Anderson. Yesterday he called. I was not 
in, but he left with Annie £50 for our Home Mission, 
£25 for Mr. Bost, and as much for the poor of London. 
This last will he a great relief to my over-taxed charity 
purse. I wish I had seen more of him. He is a very 
superior man. On Tuesday of last week I made a holiday. 
Went down to Woolwich with Dr. Stewart, Lord Blantyre, 
and Jas. Anderson. Col. Anderson showed us over the 
arsenal, with its 24,000 cannons, and 4,000,000 of balls. 
Then we steamed up to Deptford, where a warm-hearted 
Scotchman, Dr. Bruce, had prepared beef-brose and pan- 
cakes for us, it being Shrove Tuesday. Then we saw the 
mill which makes cocoa or chocolate for 14,000 men every 
day, and the place where they bake the daily biscuits of 
40,000 seamen. Then after a bachelor dinner with Dr. 
Stewart, went to the Linnaean Society, of which I had been 
some weeks a member without taking my seat. The 
Bishop of Norwich was in the chair, and I was introduced 
by old Mr. Spence (of Kirby and Spence), if not the father, 
the uncle of modern entomology. Yesterday and to-day 
have been a good deal occupied with the Council of the 
Evangelical Alliance. I like to meet the good men there. 
We have one of them staying with us, a Mr. Walters, a 
layman from Newcastle. If spared to August I think I 
would like to try a new and short memoir of our father. 
The present one is a sad farrago. If you can glean any- 
thing from uncle John as to his early days, or if anything 
occurs to your own memory, I would like you to jot it 
down, and when we meet we may compare notes. I am 
sorry that there should not be an interesting record of 



328 CONTINENTAL KEVOLUTIONS. 



such a life. Next Sabbath evening I shall close my lec- 
tures to classes and professions. To myself they have 
been very interesting, as refreshing old readings in bio- 
graphy. You would hardly think how rapidly they have 
been written. This fast-writing is to me a new and per- 
haps dangerous talent. Our London mobs are not more 
desperate than the one through which you passed so 
triumphantly at Glasgow. There will be more misery in 
France. Events seem ominous for Antichrist. This day's 
news is that the Eoman mob is besieging the Vatican, and 
clamouring for reforms which the Pope dare not concede. 
In consequence, I suppose, of our proposal to move into a 
smaller house, the Church Building Committee have in- 
creased my stipend to £500. With our exemplary thrifti- 
ness, this will do for house-keeping, but for books and 
journeys, as well as charities, I must still call in the aid of 
the crow-quill. Delightful place this London, but very 
dear. Tell Christina so any time that she proposes to flit. 
But Mr. Walters will be coming back, and I have a great 
long snake of a proof-sheet coiled on the table, so good- 
night, and love, brotherly and sisterly love, from, dear 
William and Christina, your affectionate brother and sister, 
" James and Annie Hamilton." 

The " crow-quill " in this letter is not merely a figure of 
speech. He used that instrument almost exclusively to 
the last. The stately feather from the goose's wing was 
early abandoned, and the modern metallic inventions, 
brass and gold, were not adopted till a very late period of 
his life, and not frequently used even then. Little boys, 



MATRIMONIAL FELICITATIONS. 



329 



who lived near rookeries in far-off Scotland, were "bribed 
to gather the precious pinions. 

TO THE EEV. ANDREW BONAR. 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, March 29, 1848. 

" My dear Brother, — A letter sealed with white wax 
came this morning, but it did not contain the expected 
cards. When are they coming ? I was beginning to be 
rather afraid of you, so unconscious of your forlorn con- 
dition did you seem. And now I feel that Miss Dickson 
has much merit in dispelling your monkish delusion, and 
by herself becoming one of our sisterhood, restoring you to 
our perfect brotherhood. Now it is all right. Eobert 
M'Donald, Horatius, Milne, and, at last, you and I. They 
have often reproached us ministers as growing less active 
and zealous when we got our homes all comfortable ; and 
we must try and do away with this accusation. It should 
not be true ; for, besides being a help -meet, a good wife 
should be a strong motive. I know very well that yours 
will be both, and I think you will find some new advan- 
tages for your work. We wish you would take your mar- 
riage trip to London. Will you not ? It would delight 
us greatly if you would. We often pray for you, and for 
her who is soon to be your wife. We are glad that we 
know her, having enjoyed a short sight of her last year. I 
have just been reading William Dickson's notices of his 
mother's last days, — a fine specimen of the mellow piety 
of old Scotland." 

" London, June 29, 1848. 

" My dear William, — . . . My leisure has been all 
occupied in writing tracts for the times, the first-fruits 



330 



DE. WINTER HAMILTON. 



of which I enclose. I share a good deal in the popular 
prejudice against tracts, and therefore have disguised my 
lucubrations as well as I could, and have got Punch's 
next door neighbour to publish them, as the Berners 
Street imprint might have awakened suspicion. 

" I hope that Christina has got strong again, and that 
the heir-apparent waxes and is well. ,, 

"Brighton, May 18, 1848. 
" My dear William, — . . . Nothing can surpass Lon- 
don in the month of May. Our lilacs, laburnums, and 
pink hawthorn run riot. The picture exhibitions are 
open, and the town is full of nice people. But I am 
writing a few short tracts for working people, and want 
three days' leisure. Chartism has frightened some digni- 
taries of the Church." 

"7 Lansdowhh Place, July 21, 1848. 

" My dear Mother, — ... I have just heard of the 
death of Dr. Hamilton, of Leeds. Of all the English Dis- 
senters he had the richest scholarship, and the most 
aspiring and chivalrous mind, with a noble infusion of 
the old Puritan sap and vigour." 

«' Kilmitn, Aug. 21, 1848. 

" My dear Mamma, — You must feel that you have got 
into quite a patriarchal dispensation with all these grand- 
children starting up around you. Even as their old uncle, 
I grow venerable in my own eyes. I am well pleased with 
the sample here. Little William is very good, and Jane 
is a funny, sagacious, and selfish lassie, fast spoiling her 
papa. One sometimes wonders how all these little things 



THE POLITICAL CRISIS. 



331 



are to warsle through the world. Hot so badly, perhaps, 
if their parents are spared ; but if these were taken away, 
there are few aunts like Aunt Elizabeth. However, if 
they are intrusted to Him, the Father of the fatherless 
will take charge of thern Himself." 

TO MR. WILLIAM HAMILTON 

"Carnwath, by Carstairs, Sept. 11, 1848. 
" I hope to finish this week my tracts for the working 
people. I hear that they have been a good deal bought 
by the class for whom they are intended, and I trust that 
though a very feeble agency, they may be accepted by the 
Lord, and used for good." 

These tracts for the working people demand and de- 
serve some notice. 

It was the year 1848. Eevolution was in the ascendant 
abroad ; Chartism threatened all established institutions 
at home. There was distress of nations, with perplexity. 
The ship of the State laboured like the ship that bore the 
fugitive Jonah, and every one on board was fain to awake 
and call upon such god as he knew' and trusted. The 
storm, as we now know, although it did some mischief in 
knocking over certain rather ricketty thrones, did much 
good in the way of blowing unhealthy vapours out of our 
political atmosphere. 

There was too much, both of the Christian and the 
patriot, in James Hamilton, to permit him to sit still and 
fold his hands at such a crisis. He was not so much 
alarmed as were some dignitaries of Church and State. 
He had mingled much with the people, and knew the 



332 



THE DANGEROUS CLASSES. 



good qualities that still remained in the mass. He did 
not tremble for the existence of the commonwealth ; but 
neither did he think light of the danger which threatened 
its wellbeing. There was hope of weathering the storm ; 
but there was need of exertion. He will not stand idle ; 
he too will put his hand to the work of preservation. But 
he saw preservation only through reformation, and to re- 
formation of the dangerous classes he accordingly addressed 
himself. The weapon which at this crisis he seizes, is the 
old and well-tried one — a tract. 

This time, however, he has a different audience to 
address, and accordingly he must employ a different 
method. The problem in hand is not to lead gently for- 
ward the educated and well-disposed : it is to arrest the 
attention and win the favour of the alienated and the 
dangerous classes of the community. With this view he 
deserts for a time his publishers in Berners Street, and 
enters into an alliance with Mr. Bogue, who happens to 
be next neighbour of Punch. The tracts shall be anony- 
mous, and, as far as possible, the writer's style shall be 
disguised. But alas ! the change of publisher and the 
omission of his name availed no more than the very 
simple scheme of the ostrich, who hides his head — the 
smallest part of him — in the sand, in order to conceal his 
huge body from the hunters. His speech bewrayed him 
in every line. The tracts were indeed published anony- 
mously, but the writer did not remain unknown. 

The series consisted of twelve, which, when collected 
into a small volume, assumed the general designation, 
The Happy Home. They attracted considerable notice at 



CHAEACTEEISTICS OF THE TEACTS. 



333 



tlie time. To some extent they reached the section for 
whose benefit they were designed, — the discontented and 
uneasy classes who heaved and foamed ominously at that 
period, near the base of society ; but even from the first, 
it must be confessed, that they were read more for their 
remarkable literary characteristics by people of refined 
taste, than by the unrefined, for the instruction which 
they contained. There are many gems of description, and 
many streaks of sage humour, and many adventurous 
sallies, — all the work of a really earnest man, honestly 
aiming at a great object ; yet the result has been a specu- 
lative interest in his peculiar method as a work of art, 
rather than an arrestment, on any large scale, of our clever 
but wayward, and unlettered and unchristianized, artisan 
population. To make the effort was honourable ; and the 
effort, even as to its direct aim, was not by any means in 
vain. It is no disgrace to the writer that for their original 
purpose these tracts are by no means perfect. Indeed it 
might have been with certainty predicted that his style 
would not prove an instrument nicely adapted to go right 
home to the understandings and the tastes of the lapsed 
masses. There is so much of essential poetry, and of 
covert, elegant allusion, and of peculiar idiom, that the 
average artisan must in reading them experience many a 
breach in the continuity of his comprehension. Some 
men of less brilliant parts have since that time addressed 
the same classes in a style better fitted for the purpose. 
The Happy Home will continue to be read with interest, 
but mainly by those who have already reached and passed 
the moral and economic reformations which it so warmly 
urges, and so felicitously recommends. 



334 



SLEEP. 



It may indeed be questioned whether any printed 
address, however skilfully adapted, will ever make much 
impression on that particular stratum of society to which 
this effort pointed. This kind of spirit goeth not out by 
a preacher that can be sent by post. The living voice 
and loving look of a brother seem the necessary, the 
divinely- appointed means, of conveying effectually to these 
quarters the message of reconciliation with God, and con- 
sequently with men. Into this form, accordingly, in 
recent years, earnest Christians, taught by experience, 
have mainly thrown their efforts, with such a measure of 
success as suffices to encourage them to perseverance. 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, Nov. 15, 1848. 

" My dear Andrew, — ... I hope you will continue 
to enjoy health, spirits, and friends. I know the sort of 
slumbers which you are now enjoying. Indeed, without 
being an epicure in sleep, I am a connoisseur. (I am not 
an epicure, for I am glad to get whatever comes.) I 
know by some experiences that sort of sleep which goes 
off you clean and light, and leaves you calm and hale — 
like an ether bath or a cloud-blanket rolling off. But 
sleep seldom leaves me in this way. I usually leave it, 
and come out of it like one who has been over head and 
ears in some viscus (say treacle), and who has clots of 
drowsiness sticking to him for an hour after he gets up. 
London, I must confess, is ill supplied with air. I wish 
there were some Sir Hugh Myddleton and a New Eepre- 
sentation Company to supply the town with Hanoverian 
or Elberfeldian atmosphere, of the standard quality — 21 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 



335 



per cent, of oxygen. By-the-bye, Dr. Witling will be glad 
to bear tbat a Londoner bas taken out a patent for tbe 
essence of sunsbine. By a new application of galvanism 
be can produce a ligbt having all tbe intensity and otber 
qualities of solar ligbt, and by some means can parcel it 
out so tbat for three farthings a night you can command a 
piece of sun big enough to supersede one hundred candles. 
I have just come in from lecturing to the students for the 
third time. I had them all at tea last night. They are a 
good set (nine — the Muses), intelligent, willing, and in 
earnest. Even to myself the course may be of some use. 
It will set me in my old age to study English. I wish I 
had a musical ear. I can trust my judgment in the selec- 
tion of synonymes, and in the use of figures, etc., but I 
cannot trust my ear in the structure of sentences. I 
often suspect that I fall into monotony and jingles, as 
well as into harsh combinations. I have bought the 
Faery Queen. It would be a good sermon or speech which 
filled the sense like one of its cantos : as varied, round, 
and ample. 

" Your philosophers will expect some scientific news. 
Well, I went to the Linnaean Society on Tuesday last 
week, when it was proved pretty conclusively that the 
potato-blight is a fungus allied to Botrychium infestans, 
the spores of which enter from within by the sap vessels. 
And on Monday evening, Adam White emerged from a 
six months' aestivation, and invited me to the British 
Museum, to get a private view of the Nimrod marbles. 
They throw a flood of light on such passages as Nahum ii., 
etc. The sculptures give with wonderful vividness the 



336 



DECISIVE BOOKS. 



private and military life of old Nineveh. There is some- 
thing very solemn in the exhuming of God's witnesses 
2500 years after the event." 

"London, Dec. 5, 1848. 

" My deae Andrew, — ... I am going out to the funeral 
of old Mrs. Bunting. We have lost three of our most 
venerable hearers within a fortnight ; besides herself, the 
oldest of all, Mrs. Pritchard and Mr. T. Johnstone, the 
elder. He had just taken a house in Calthorpe Place in 
order to be near us ; and on the Sabbath morning, the 
day to which he always looked forward with desire, he 
awoke with a pain which he had often felt, and very soon 
expired. 

" Do you know Gaussen's Theopneustia 1 It is a con- 
clusive book, making an end of the matter, quite a master- 
piece of sanctified genius. Such books I am inclined to 
call ' Prophecies,' in the New Testament acceptation of the 
term. Their writers are not evangelists, nor teachers, nor 
pastors, but they are prophets. They give stability to 
some pillar-truth of revelation, or raise to a stately and 
commanding elevation some neglected doctrine or duty. 
Instance Edwards on The Will, Butler, Paley's Horce, Pos- 
ter on Decision, Chalmers's Astronomical and Commercial 
Discourses, The Paradise Lost, Calvin's Institutes, and per- 
haps Irving's Orations. It is the tendency of the churches 
to * despise prophesyings/ for they do not furnish light 
reading or comfortable preaching ; but to them Christianity 
owes all its strength and grandeur (outwardly). 

" We have again got a Scotch Lord Mayor, Sir J. Duke. 
Last Sabbath he and the Lady Mayoress came to Eegent 



THACKEEAY — HAPPY HOME. 337 



Square, and their grand coach made quite a sensation 
among the young folks. There is a novel just completed 
by Thackeray — Vanity Fair, which is said to be the most 
remarkable fiction printed for many years. Last week I 
got it from the library, and abhor it. It is ' a novel with- 
out a hero/ and its object is to make humanity contemp- 
tible. It is written without any moral, any curative 
design ; and is, devil-like, a derision of all that is good or 
bad in man. I am sorry at its extreme popularity. The 
hero-worship which forgets man's depravity, seems to be 
not nearly so disastrous in its tendency as this sardonic 
fooling — this blasphemy against a nature originally made 
in God's image." 

FEOM ME. AENOT. 

" Glasgow, 23c? January 1849. 

" My deae beothee Hamilton, — ... To show you 
that I have no ill-will, I have turned out a broad-sheet in 
the good old fashion under the heavy postage. The only 
objection I have to the cheap postage is its demoralizing 
effects on the size and the sense of letters. I venture to 
affirm that the next generation of biographies will not be 
so rich in really good and substantial letters as the last. 
These loathsome little sheeticules, — two pages going to an 
ordinary sentence, — how can they have anything in them 
fit for posterity ? . . . 

" As it will gratify the honest pride of an author, I 
cannot deny myself the pleasure of informing you that 
Happy Home is an especial favourite of my eldest daughter 
She calls for it as frequently as for any of her literary 
and pictorial store. She is well acquainted with Caspar 

Y 



338 



AIM OF "THE HAPPY HOME." 



Kauchbilder. 1 She knows that is his wet coat hanging 
on a chair before the fire. She can point out the column 
of smoke ascending over his head, and tell the uninitiated 
what it is, and she enjoys a hearty laugh every time it is 
opened, at the sight of the dog running off with the pud- 
ding. As to my own opinion, an author, when he reaches 
so many thousands, may well appeal to public opinion, and 
let private opinion take its course ; yet I could not write 
without congratulating you on the peculiar honour of 
making the attempt. To that point I chiefly look. To suc- 
ceed is evidence of talent, but to try, there is virtue. I sup- 
pose that you will have been made aware that, amid a very 
general admiration, some wicked people (M'Phail's, etc.) 
revile, and some timid people start and rub their eyes, and 
look again, and ask what do you think of that? To 
the wicked people, I think, for I have no opportunity 
of saying, 'You lazy scoundrel, you stand there high 
and dry with your hands in your breeches' pockets, 
and look down on that other man, who has stripped and 
plunged into the quarry-hole, and is manfully plucking 
drowning bairns from beneath the broken ice, — you find 
fault with the method of his operation. He don't dive 
elegantly, etc. You insufferable fellow, go, jump into 
the quarry-hole and do it better, and when you come out 
criticise your neighbour/ To the timid people I say, 
' Don't be afraid, — here is a new walk, here is a man doing 
battle with the enemy in a field which they have long had 
to themselves. Goliath has been defying the armies of 

1 Each tract was originally published separately, and each was adorned with 
an appropriate picture. 



LOED ASHLEY. 



339 



the living God, and if a stripling accept his challenge and 
go right out to meet him, we must let the youth take his 
own weapons and his own way of using them. Our 
regular weapons and our prescribed sword exercise have 
not repressed the incursions of these uncircumcised Phili- 
stines ; why should we bind them on the back of this 
champion ? Let him alone. What although he choose a 
tiny-looking weapon; what although he give it queer 
outlandish twirls round his head ; that is his own way of 
giving impetus to the missile. Let him alone. If he 
strike Goliath in the forehead, that is the main point/ 
Well, I must say good-night. All our family well. 
Hitherto we have been preserved. W. A." 

"London, Feb. 2, 1849. 
" My dear William, — ... At dinner I sat next Lord 
Ashley, the only time I ever met him in private. His 
hobby is the same as Mr. Guthrie's, and all night he talked 
of nothing but ragged schools. In one thing I believe he 
is right. The London thieves are perhaps the sharpest 
and most susceptible race in London ; but I can't find, 
either from him or from the Secretary of the Ragged School 
Union, who is a member of Eegent Square, that many 
tangible cases have yet occurred where they have been 
reclaimed. What I am far more anxious to see is a move- 
ment, wise and systematic, to Christianize our working 
men. In such a movement I think Mr. JSToel is ready to 
take a zealous part ; but it will be some time before his 
ecclesiastical relations are fixed, and till then he will not 
preach, nor appear in public." 



340 



TRACTS THAT PEOPLE BUY. 



TO MR. AENOT. 

"February 15, 1849. 

" I am not at all discouraged by the reception of Bogue's 
series {The Happy Home). I daresay they are very open 
to criticism when read in parlours, but I wrote them for 
working people, and perhaps they are the only tracts which 
working people buy. The other day I had an anonymous 
letter from an operative in Birmingham, saying that he 
had hung up my picture near his bed that he might see 
it every morning when he awoke (poor fellow ! I sus- 
pect he will not be allowed much time to look at it) ; 
and I often hear of poor people (for instance, a man selling 
hot potatoes in the streets) going and buying them. Now, 
I think it possible to write better and more interesting 
tracts, and I wish some of you would go and do it, for it 
is cheaper philanthropy to get the people to buy their own 
tracts, than to need to coax them to accept them. Popu- 
larity in this quarter is the only sort of distinction about 
which I feel no sheepishness. 

" Eemember me kindly to the presiding genius of your 
own happy home, and give Caspar Eauchbilder's love to 
Miss Arnot. J. H." 

"7 Lansdowne Place, Feb. 21, 1849. 

" My deab William, — ... I was glad to hear such an 
account of your Communion. Our own was a profitable 
season too. Some of the new communicants were interest- 
ing cases. Four of them were the sons of Mr. D. Napier, 
the engineer ; all fine young men. That Sabbath was the 
first in which their father officiated as an elder, and two 



THE SEED BEARING FEU1T. 



341 



of them were to sail trie same week for Otao;o. Another 

was the daughter of Mr. . She was naturally a 

proud and strong-willed creature, and most resolute against 
all religion. But last November she was deeply awakened 

by a sermon on Judas Iscariot. Another was , the 

boot-maker, a man at middle life, and in a very respectable 
business, who seems at last to have received the truth in 
the love of it. And most of the young communicants 
(twenty in all) seem to have received their religious im- 
pressions quite recently. J. H." 

"London, Feb. 26, 1849. 
" My dear Mamma, — . . . Yesterday morning I was 
preaching on 1 Cast thy bread on the waters/ and just be- 
fore I went into the pulpit who should come into the 
vestry but Andrew Melville ? He is still forester to the 
Earl of Malmesbury, doing well in the world, and as good 
as ever: and this morning a nice-looking young woman 
came in and told me that she had been in church yester- 
day, and that it was by the sermons in Eoxburgh Church, 
eight years ago, when she was one of Miss Spence's scholars, 
that she had been brought under the truth as it is in Jesus. 
Her name is C — , and she, along with her mother, keeps 
house for her brother at Gravesend, who has a good place 
in the Customs. She has an aunt in town, and frequently 
comes up to attend Eegent Square on the Sabbaths. I was 
much interested with many things she said, and much 
struck with the providential commentary on the morning's 
text. On Friday, a minister at Islington told me that, 
when pastor of an Independent church near Cambridge, 



342 "THE PRESBYTERIAN MESSENGER." 



at one communion lie admitted two members, one of whom 
had been converted by reading the Mount of Olives, and 
the other by Life in Earnest It is very cheering to hear 
such news now and then. 

" Yesterday we had with us, for the last time, Arnot's 
brother-in-law, John Fleming, a fine youth, who has im- 
proved much even in London, and who, I hope, will turn 
out well/' 

"London, March 27, 1849. 
" My dear William, — . . . Our Presbyterian Messenger 
is not paying, and is not thriving, and I have been called 
in as sick-nurse. I hope to cure it by light diet and gentle 
exercise. But it is a great trouble ; meanwhile, I have had 
to write nearly the whole number myself" 

So, whenever a wheel of the Presbyterian waggon stuck 
in the mud, it was to his shoulder that people looked for 
the needful push, — a shoulder strong morally, but, alas ! 
physically unfit to bear the burden. Wisely judging that 
a magazine which should contain denominational as well 
as general intelligence, was a prime necessity for the 
Church, he cheerfully undertook the work, and success- 
fully accomplished it. Henceforth he led it with his 
own hand, until it was able to walk alone ; and even then 
continued to keep a fatherly eye on its movements. By 
a few sentences from the address which he inserted on 
the occasion of assuming editorial charge, we may contri- 
bute a specimen of that amazing skill with which he con- 
trived to brighten, by a ray of his own hopefulness, a 
prospect that otherwise would have appeared forlorn : — 



PROSPECTUS OF THE " MESSENGER." 343 



" Many readers have hitherto deemed the Messenger too 
massive in its structure, and too denominational in its 
tone. On the correctness of this impression it is not for 
the present editors to pronounce ; but such readers will 
not be displeased to learn that the magazine is hereafter 
to be conducted on principles more accordant with their 
tastes. The larger portion of its pages will be devoted to 
biographical sketches, missionary intelligence, short prac- 
tical essays, and those scriptural or historical miscellanies 
which may entertain our younger friends, whilst they 
convey instruction to all. We shall be more anxious 
than ever to detail the progress of our China and Corfu 
Missions, the proceedings of our several presbyteries and 
congregations, the increase of our schools, the on-goings 
of our college. And whilst we shall gladly insert what- 
ever may tend to elucidate or endear to its adherents our 
ecclesiastical polity, we shall be open to all sound and 
judicious suggestions toward the improvement of its 
working. But our plan will necessarily exclude many 
articles which might be prized in other periodicals. We 
have not space for critical or homiletic disquisitions, and 
we are not in the humour for controversial reviews. Our 
little barque makes no magnificent pretensions. She is 
too lightly built for heavy goods, nor will she carry the 
thunderbolts of war. But like her namesake among the 
South Sea Islands, it is all her hope to be a " Messenger 
of Peace," a little coaster carrying tidings and a few plain 
commodities, in her monthly voyage, amongst our insu- 
lated congregations ; and if cheered by a little kind en- 
couragement, no pains will be spared to provide an 
acceptable cargo. 



344 



ME. NOEL. 



" Some well-wishers may be startled at the prospect of 
a monthly sixpence instead of the present moderate sum. 
And we ourselves confess that to a doubled price we 
would greatly prefer a doubled circulation. If, therefore, 
by the exertions of our friends, we receive during the 
next two months the assurance of 2500 new subscribers, 
the price and size will remain as at present. But if our 
readers practically decide against both alternatives, — that 
is, if they will give us neither the additional pence nor 
the additional subscribers, the pleasant month of June 
will put a period to the Presbyterian Messenger. And 
after paying their debts, should a few sovereigns of their 
private resources still remain to them, the gratuitous 
editors and the grievously mulcted ' promoters ' will seek 
to recover their spirits at Brighton or Southampton, or 
some other watering place, where they may find the skies 
still azure and the brethren true blue." 

"London, March 27, 1849. 

" My dear Mamma, — ... I feel sorry for you all in 
your bleak and upland dwellings — William often so ill at 
Stonehouse, and Jane so invalid at Carnwath. But even 
London is not proof against influenzas. I have had one 
since Tuesday last, and though I tried to preach on Sabbath 
morning, I felt my throat so tender that I begged Mr. 
Noel, who was in church, to go on with the service. This 
he kindly did, and preached a beautiful sermon from 
Genesis xxii. 16-18 : so that his first appearance since he 
left Bedford Bow has been in Begent Square. A good 
many of his old hearers were present, and much affected 
to see him ascend into the pulpit . . . 



DEATH OF HIS SISTEE. 



345 



" I have read with much interest lately three memoirs, 
the life of Mrs. Sherman of Surrey Chapel, and John 
M'Donald of Calcutta, and Tom Campbell the poet. I 
have seen all three, and Mrs. Sherman I knew. She was 
a beautiful combination of nature and grace, her piety 
was so natural, her nature so gracious. 

" I hope that James the Less is behaving magnanimously 
during his mamma's illness ; and I trust, through the good- 
ness of God, health and quiet may soon revisit your abode." 

He refers here to his only remaining sister, the wife of 
Mr. Walker, minister of the Free Church at Carnwath. The 
hope he fondly entertained was not fulfilled — the sickness 
was unto death. The letters which follow exhibit a very 
great grief, balanced by a still greater consolation : — 

" London-, April 16, 1849. 
" My deae William, — My impulse would be to speed 
back to Carnwath, but there are some matters to which 
no one can attend except myself, at least for the next two 
days, — especially the writing of the Foreign Mission Re- 
port and preparing for the press next Messenger. It seems 
strange to myself that I feel quite equal to the doing of 
such things, especially when I remember how dull I was 
on Saturday week. But one great reason is that to me it 
scarcely seems as if Jane were gone. I feel that she is 
living and happy, and with Christ. When I see poor 
Annie sitting and crying, I think that she would weep less 
if she had been with me at Carnwath last week, and if 
she had been led (as I have been) to think not so much of 
our own loss as of her gain." 



346 



DEATH OF HIS SISTER. 



" Tuesday Evening. 

" Deaeest William, — This day my mind has been much 
divided, but whilst feeling drags me to Carnwath, duty 
seems to detain me here. Many things would fall into 
confusion were I leaving even on Thursday night ; and I 
am not without fear of catching cold, owing to the season, 
especially if I travelled overnight, as I would need to do. 
Oh, how fain would I pay the last tribute of a brother's 
love to that dear dust, and how I would like to shed a 
tear with them that weep ; but nobody can do the things 
that I have got to do here, and must do this week. 

" In regard to the Sabbath, I think Dr. Hanna, or some 
one who knew and loved her, can improve the occasion 
best, better than either of us. 

"I feel it hard to stay away, and nearly impossible 
to go. 

" May the Comforter come to dear mamma and James. — 
Your ever affectionate brother, J. Hamilton." 

"Monday, April 16, 1849. 

* My beloved Uncle, — Our dear Jane has entered into 
rest. I left her on Saturday morning very very weak, 
half hoping she might recover, and happy to think that if 
she did not get better she was going home to God. And 
thither she departed gently and peacefully yesterday 
morning at twenty minutes past six. When asked to her 
marriage, you said that on such occasions you saw not 
only gay carriages but a hearse at the door. I saw her 
that day, then when I went to baptize her little boy, and 
then last week when on her dying bed. 



GEEAT CONSOLATION. 



347 



" Owing to the meeting of Synod, I do not think that 
I can retnrn to Camwath ; but William is there, and my 
dear mother is most mercifully supported." 

TO HIS MOTHER. 

" 7 Lansdowne Place, April 20, 1849. 

"... I am glad to hear, dear mamma, that you have 
been so supported under this most afflicting dispensation. 
My own feeling on behalf of our sainted sister is thank- 
fulness, more than anything else ; and it is only when I 
think of those left behind that sadder thoughts come over 
me. "No one ever passed through twenty-seven years of 
earthly life so inoffensive, so innocent, so self-denied, up 
to the limits of her strength so useful, nor one who, in her 
own quiet, truthful, and kindly walk more adorned the 
doctrine. Calm, sweet, and holy will be her memory, like 
the remembrance of a summer Sabbath at Strathblane. 

" What is your plan about little James ? Poor little 
fellow, I wish we had him here, if James would let him 
come. Would it not be your best plan to come up to us 
as soon as you can and bring him with you ? Stonehouse 
is too cold, both for him and you, and we have plenty of 
room. I hope it may come to this." 

"52 Hamilton Terrace, May 25, 1849. 
" My dear William, — ... A delicious summer has 
now arrived, and nothing can surpass the beauty of the out- 
look from the window where I si 4- . Every season, I am more 
struck with the beauty of our London environs. There 
can nowhere be a finer blending of the picturesque and 



348 



his sister's character. 



the sumptuous. But looking out on this lovely spring, I 
think often of one who can no longer smell the lilac and 
wallflower, nor walk over this soft new grass. "Where is 
that ransomed spirit's home ? and is she cognisant of phy- 
sical beauty in any way ? Or is it for the present mere 
intercourse of soul with soul — meditation, communion, 
worship % " 

Jane was the only one of his sisters with whom the 
present writer was personally acquainted. As it lies 
within his power, it seems to be his duty to bear testi- 
mony that the terms in which her brother describes her 
character, are in no degree exaggerated by fraternal fond- 
ness. She was bright and sportive like a lamb, and like 
a lamb too in a certain simplicity and pureness which won 
all hearts. While mother and brothers mourned their 
loss with a very great sorrow, her husband was well-nigh 
stricken down by the blow. For a long period his spirit 
was crushed and his health enfeebled. Such is life on 
earth, even for the disciples of Christ ; the more precious 
the treasure bestowed, the more dreadful is the rending 
when it is taken away. The space here is too narrow for 
the full development of our Father's plans ; He needs a 
larger room whereon to exhibit in the ultimate issue the 
love and wisdom of His comprehensive purpose. " What 
thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter." 



CHAPTEE VIII 
1849-1851. 

From year to year the congregational and pastoral work 
goes on with the utmost regularity. The stream is seldom 
ruffled by any great or extraordinary event. The annual 
reports succeed each other, containing full and clear 
accounts of schools and missions in London ; of efforts to 
extend the limits of the Church in England ; of foreign 
missions in Corfu and in China. Eegent Square is like a 
hive of bees in summer; and the mighty metropolis is 
the better for this and other similar congregations in its 
midst, whether the mighty metropolis knows and acknow- 
ledges its obligations or not. The minister, loving and 
loved, is felt everywhere a rallying point and centre of 
attraction. The beneficent machinery goes smoothly 
round, Christian charity lubricating every wheel; and 
precisely because all is going on well there is not much 
for the historian to tell. Where there are no battles, the 
history of a country is brief and dull; but great is the 
happiness and the progress of the people. It is the same 
with the work and sphere of a Christian minister, when 
he is faithful and his flock affectionate. His letters will 



350 



ARTISTS IN REGENT SQUARE. 



quietly illustrate his character, but there are few events 
large enough to constitute way-marks in his history. 

" London - , June 8, 1849. 
"My dear Andkew, — Your last with its enclosure to 
William arrived safely a week ago. I should have sent 
you a good long letter sooner, but I am sadly occupied. 
As I keep no journal, I may give you a sketch of the last 
week. On Friday I worked all day at the Life of Lady 
Colguhoun, and on Saturday till midnight studied for 
Sabbath. On Sabbath rose at four, and being out at 
Hamilton Terrace, it was beautiful to behold that Sabbath 
prime. It was bright in the east, and in the west so 
darkly grey that you could easily imagine the skirts of 
night's sable stole as allegorical painters delineate. And 
then so warm and genial — the 'may,' the laburnum, the 
breath of June — and so musical, the skylark in the air, 
and the turtles in their cage. Besides which I had a 
happy feeling about the day and its blessed work. Though 
far too nervous and unequal to have any certainty about 
preaching well, I have great enjoyment in studying, from 
confidence in the truth, and a hope (often illusive) that 
I may retain the same benevolence and joyousness in 
preaching, and so effect some good. After the morning 
sermon three artists came into the vestry all in a row, and 
unknown to one another. Hope Stewart and Miss Laird, 
who took dear James's likeness, and Norman M'Beth, all 
inquiring after you. On Monday received visitors till 
twelve. One of these was a Professor Stewart, from New 
Albany, Ohio. He brought a handsome edition of Happy 



DEATH OF A WIDOW'S SON. 



351 



Home, published by Carter, New York, and a diploma 
constituting me a life-director of the American Board of 
Foreign Missions — a distinction obtained by purchase, and 
a good way of applying part of the profits of these publi- 
cations. Then visited till half-past four. One of these 
visits was an affecting one. On Sabbath evening I was 
asked to go and see a young Scotchman at Walworth, 
dying of decline. I made a memorandum to go there the 
first place on Monday, but I was only in time to see his 
tall figure stretched on a table in the repose of recent 
death, and his old mother, from Peterhead, sitting beside 
the corpse. Poor fellow ! I fear there was no hope in his 
death, the only thing like it was that he had expressed a 
wish to see me. I observed on a table what appeared to 
be a novel from a circulating library, and with which I 
fancied he had been beguiling his dying hours. I prayed 
with his mother and brother and came sorrowfully away. 
After dining with Mr. W. Hamilton, attending the Session 
prayer-meeting and two committees, got home at ten. 
Tuesday wrote fourteen letters, corrected the proofs of a 
new edition of Mount of Olives in order to be stereotyped." 

"52 Hamilton Terrace, June 12, 1849. 
"My dear Mamma, — . . . Our old cook, Ann, is 
feeling the infirmities of age, and has resigned. We have 
got one from Yarde, the chemist in Lamb's Conduit 
Street, who is well recommended. For the last month we 
have been very much here. Dr. Darling recommends it 
as good for Annie, baby, and all to be here as much as 
they can. And so another friend and neighbour has passed 



352 



STRATHBLANE NOTABLES. 



away. It is thirty years since Miss Craig came to Strath- 
blane in all her buxom vigour, and very bowed and feeble 
they say she was these latter years. I missed seeing her 
when in Edinburgh last September. That little spot in 
the West Churchyard has now received beneath its sod 
forms with whom my early memories of the old manse 
intermingle. Yesterday, the day the notification came, 
was the Monday of Strathblane sacrament twenty-two 

years ago. Mrs. and Miss Craig would be the 

stateliest guests at the manse dinner ; old Susan would be 
assiduous at the table ; and Mary, seven years old, with 
her white frock and soft fair hair, had helped Elizabeth to 
gather flowers for the epergne — lilac and bachelors' buttons 
and red pinks and cowslips from the bank. Dear Jane, 
her cheeks even then were rosy, and I think her hair was 
black, though her dark eyes had not softened into that 
gentle and magnanimous expression of friendliness which 
they afterwards acquired. Andrew was in Lizzy Eamsay's 
arms. Poor Captain Craig's funeral was on the Saturday 
of a summer sacrament — a cold and windy Saturday. But 
before it took place his young sweetheart (Elizabeth 
Hamilton) had escaped from the windy storm into the 
bosom of her God ; and the great break up had begun which 
has been going on for eighteen years. That old manse 
beside the burn was like a nest ; and, taking in Aunt 
Elizabeth, there were nine of us who nestled there ; and 
I seldom see a hawthorn tree> or scent the caller smell of 
clothes bleaching on the grass, or the odorous breath of a 
milch cow, but I think of these warm, peaceful evenings. 
Of the nine, four are left, but no two together. How much 



EXPLORATION OF THE DEAD SEA. 



353 



need to think of heaven ! — I remain, your ever affection- 
ate son, James Hamilton." 

" London, July 21, 1849. 

" My dear William, — . . . The wealth which I most 
yalue is the affection of relations and friends ; but I feel 
that I am doing nothing to deserve it, and by negligence 
doing much to forfeit it. On Wednesday, at Hamilton 
Terrace, just before the bell rang for dinner, I finished 
writing the Memoir of good Lady Colquhoun, and after 
two days more I have just completed the Messenger for 
this month. And then I said to myself, 1 1 shall now rest 
a while ; I shall take in hand no more book-making. I 
shall take leisure, and delight myself in the society of dear 
friends.' And Annie enters enthusiastically into the idea. 
(She has even some sinister wishes that the Messenger may 
' go down.') And carrying out our scheme we are going 
to Tulse Hill and Camberwell on Monday, and are to have 
some friends at tea on Tuesday ; and by a little extra 
activity we hope to pick up a good many of those old 
acquaintances who may still remember us after the relega- 
tion of the last fifteen months. It is just so long since I 
conceived the notion of ' Happy Home,' and began to lead 
this life of cold-hearted industry. 

" To-morrow, Mr. Noel is to preach in the morning, and 
in the evening I exchange with Dr. Leifchild ; so this 
afternoon I have a singular sensation of disengagedness. 
This week I have read a wonderful book — Lieut. Lynch 
of the United States has sailed, or rather floated, down the 
Jordan, and all round the Dead Sea ; the only man who ever 



35-1 



BIOGRAPHY LABORIOUS. 



did so. His exploration is a wonderful confirmation of 
the Bible narrative of the destruction of the cities of the 
Plain. Over and above, it is a most interesting volume of 
travels." 

In a letter of the same date to his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Walker, he states his opinion that the preparation of the 
memoir occupied more time than all that he had hitherto 
printed put together. This intimation takes one by sur- 
prise ; but he knew what he said, and could, if necessary, 
have given his reasons. The books and tracts, for the most 
part, were in the line of his ministry, or lines that lay 
near. The materials were all at hand, the accumulations 
of a laborious life. But the memoir of a life with which 
he was not, to a great extent, personally familiar, must have 
been compiled altogether from documents that he had not 
previously seen. Besides, the labour of reading a great 
mass of documents, written by various pens, and with 
varying degrees of legibility, and the strain laid upon the 
judging faculty by the necessity of forming a multitude of 
decisions, or rather one continuous act of deciding what 
should be retained and what omitted, render the task of 
a biographer exceptionally laborious. 

But the work was a credit to him, and a benefit to the 
public. It is alive, and will speak for itself. The honour 
that accrued to him from the manner in which he executed 
this task, became ultimately a burden ; applications for 
similar service were, in some cases, pressed with incon- 
venient urgency. 



VACATION OCCUPATIONS. 



355 



TO MR. 

" Broadstairs, Aug. 24, 1849. 

" My dear Friend, — Few persons can love Mr. Noel 
more than I do, and few can be so sorry at the last step 
which he has taken. But he took it in the exercise of the 
same conscientiousness which made him espouse the cause 
of the Free Church, and which led him to leave the 
Establishment ; and though I would vehemently dissent 
from his judgment in this case, I cannot withdraw from 
him my affection. Even we ourselves do not know what 
we might have done had we belonged to a church which 
teaches baptismal regeneration. Our friends must make 
allowance, and, like Mr. N. himself, who joined in the 
prayers for the infants baptized in our church last month, 
we must exercise Christian magnanimity. , . 

"Broadstairs, Kent, Aug. 27, 1849. 

"My dear Andrew, — Your letter with your Iceland 
experiences arrived safely last Monday, and is now at 
Carnwath. You are seeing places and people whose ac- 
quaintance it is the lot of few to make, and which, I hope, 
you will find of good account in your calling hereafter. 
The globe is a little islet after all, but it contains materials 
of interest in its past and present more than all its natu- 
ralists and poets will ever use up. . . . 

" The only drawback on the rustication is that thing 
which I can no more get rid of than ' a man can jump out 
of his own shadow/ I have already written sixty-four 
letters since I came here, and edited the Messenger, having 
to write twenty columns of it myself. However, it is 



356 



NOTES ON BOOKS. 



better than London ; and in the pure, health-giving sea- 
air I have read some books. Hare's Life of Sterling \$ a 
book which gentlemen scholars like you should read, to 
see the spiritual dangers of literary habits when not cor- 
rected by the tonic of some active and beneficent pursuit. 
Sterling became a Straussian, and a great outcry has been 
raised against Hare for publishing a candid and friendly 
memoir ; but every lover of truth should be glad to get 
the true history of a mind so sincere, and so finely accom- 
plished, even though the ending is sad. With Chalmers's 
Theological Institutes I am delighted out of measure. 
Orthodox, honest, conversational, eloquent, divinely human, 
it is the shock of corn fully ripe — the mighty Chalmers in 
his golden maturity. It is the converse of his sermons. 
These it was better to hear than to read ; his lectures are 
noblest in print. With Longfellow's Hyperion you would 
be greatly charmed ; as well as with Lamartine's memoirs 
of his youth. I have also read a volume of Sir J. Stephen's 
contributions to the Edinburgh Review : brilliant sketches 
of Baxter, Wilberforce, and other leading men of many 
persuasions. And when I go out, either alone or with 
Annie, I have usually in my pocket a volume of my un- 
wearying companion, the Faery Queen. . . . 

" As you will have seen, Mr. Noel has been re-baptized. 
He will resume his ministry in the chapel, Gray's Inn 
Eoad, which has hitherto been Mr. Mortimer's. Yester- 
day he was to preach in Eegent Square, as he also will 
next Sabbath. This step cannot cool my affection for 
him, though I very much lament it. Perhaps, owing to 
the diversity of our minds, there is a peculiar drawing 



LETTER FROM AN AMERICAN. 



357 



together betwixt him and me. Most of the sermons 
which he has preached this summer have been in Eegent 
Square, to the very great benefit of our people. Three 
weeks ago I opened a beautiful new Presbyterian Church 
at Shields, built by Mr. Stevenson; and in other three 
weeks I expect to preach at the opening of another at 
Birmingham. We have now a dozen handsome churches 
in England, which are one element of denominational 
strength. 

FROM ME. S. LAURENCE. 

" Kever's Hotel, Bond Street, 
Sept. 8, 1849. 

" Eev. and dear Sir, — Some weeks since, when on the 
Continent, I received the enclosed note with a letter from 
my brother, Mr. Amos Laurence, of Boston, with a request 
that I would call on you in London and thank you in the 
warmest manner for the many good things you have 
written, especially for that entitled Life in Earliest, 
which is being circulated most extensively through the 
States, with an influence truly favourable on vast num- 
bers. My brother enclosed a letter he had received from 
Mr. Briggs, the present Governor of Massachusetts, in 
which he says this work of yours is next the Book of 
books, and of all things he would like to take you by the 
hand. I called at your house to-day, and found that you 
were out of town, and as I shall embark for my home, at 
Boston, next Saturday, it will not be in my power to gratify 
your admirers by a personal interview. Let me say that, 
should you visit the United States, you will find thousands 



358 



INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. 



of warm hearts to receive you, but none with more cordiality 
than those I have alluded to. Among the principal sources 
of enjoyment on the passage home, is the pleasure of read- 
ing your works, and I beg to present you my thanks in 
anticipation, and am, your obedient servant, 

" Saml. Laurence." 

It is understood that his works have enjoyed even a 
larger circulation in America than in this country. He 
possessed the higher reward of knowing that he was 
honoured as an instrument of good; but it would not 
have been amiss, all circumstances considered, if our 
brothers beyond the Atlantic had " felt in their pockets " 
for the' author of works which they so much admired. Not 
altogether, but almost, it can be said, that he derived no 
profit from the sale of his works in America. The ex- 
ception amounted only to a few pounds. This of course 
throws no reflection on those private persons who bought 
the books in the market : it belongs to the system which 
refuses international copyright. 

"London, Oct. 5, 1849. 

"My deae William, — . . . Many thanks to your 
dear and good friend, Mr. Eowan, for so kind an invita- 
tion. It would indeed be very delightful to spend these 
days together; but the College, the Messenger, the con- 
gregation, next Tuesday's Presbytery, the China Mission, 
and the stopping of this Sunday post, are a sixfold cable 
which tethers me to town next week. 

" During this winter it will be absolutely needful that 



PASTOEAL ADDRESS. 



359 



you husband your strength, and especially that you 
eschew all week-night meetings. Four years ago, I gave 
up our Thursday meeting in Eegent Square. I did not lose 
a single hearer in consequence, and, by being able to preach 
better on Sabbath, our Sabbath congregation improved. 
The Sabbath service is the sheet-anchor of our ministry. 
And then for health. My experience is, that if I do not 
go out in the rain, and sit in no draught in the house, 
I do not catch cold ; and I never contract any mischief 
from the utmost amount of study. I hope you will now 
make a conscience of your health, and spare no comfort 
which is to make you strong and fit for future service. 
Our constitutions are not very tough, but neither are they 
distempered ; and they will last a good while if we do not 
allow people to tear them to pieces." 

A pastoral address during the prevalence of cholera, in 
October 1849, presents his character in an interesting 
aspect. We venture to think that few evangelical mini- 
sters would have given to temporal affairs so prominent a 
position and so large a place in such a composition. One 
whose hope was less lively, and whose spiritual life was 
less mature, supposing him to be really a true disciple of 
the Lord, would have felt it necessary in such circum- 
stances to deal almost exclusively with the new life of 
the soul. Foremost in place, and largest in bulk, would 
have been the " call to the unconverted," — the urgent ap- 
peal to press into the Kingdom, lest the door should sud- 
denly be shut. A pastoral so framed would have been a 
good and an appropriate charge ; it would have been a 



360 



THE EPIDEMIC. 



word in season to any congregation. But the pastoral 
which James Hamilton wrote under the shadow of the 
pestilence was, we do not say a more useful address, but 
the fruit and evidence of a higher spiritual attainment. 
He speaks as one who is ready to depart and to be with 
Christ; it is such an one who, from such a view-point, 
can calmly enforce, in principle and detail, the duty of 
setting one's house in order. We subjoin those portions 
that bear on this point, and are in some degree peculiar 
and characteristic : — 

" In His infinite wisdom the sovereign Euler has left 
the term of human existence vague and indeterminate ; 
but, in the same wisdom, from time to time He sends 
messages to warn us that though life be indefinite, it is 
not perpetual ; though long, it is not everlasting. Of 
these methods, one most effectual is a temporary increase 
in the rate of mortality. By sending into a district a 
pestilential disease or other devastating malady, the Most 
High shortens the lives of its inhabitants. To each in- 
habitant He brings death nearer than it was. He virtu- 
ally says, ' Twice as many, thrice as many, are dying now 
as used to die, therefore from this assembly twice or thrice 
as many will be removed in these transpiring months as 
would have been taken had all things continued as they 
were ; and whatever was the previous likelihood that any 
given individual should die, that likelihood is for the pre- 
sent twice or three times greater than it was.' This is 
solemn language, but it is true. It is the language of 
God's providence ; and it is spoken not in order to put 
people into panic, but to lead them to repentance — not to 



SETTING THE HOUSE IN ORDER. 



361 



frighten or distress us, but to force us into closer contact 
with our truest interest — to compel us to grapple more 
resolutely with the great object of earthly existence. And 
as he would be our best friend, not who could insure to 
us a long life, but who could make us continually ready 
for the close of a short one, and as I deem it likely that I 
now address some who, ere the short remainder of this 
year is ended, will be the inhabitants of eternity, without 
exaggeration and without evasion, and using great plain- 
ness of speech, I would seek to offer some suggestions 
suited to the present emergency : — 

" I. And amongst these preparations which may enable 
you to look upon your departure with serenity and cheer- 
fulness, the first I shall mention is the ordering of your 
worldly affairs. If these be obscure or tangled, they will 
be a great hindrance to the more important and vital 
preparations. 

" In the complications of modern trading it is difficult 
to speak of such matters with absolute precision, but it 
seems very obvious that no one leaves the world grace- 
fully, not to say righteously, who leaves it in debt. 
Doubtless there are sad coincidences, and disease and 
death may arrive simultaneously with commercial disaster. 
But setting out of sight such anomalies, there cannot be 
a moment's doubt on the question ; and his life is the 
honourable one whose well-directed industry and fore- 
thoughtful self-denial have enabled him to add to the 
world's resources, who has converted crude materials into 
objects of solid use and substantial comfort, and who, if 
his five pounds have not gained by trading other five 



362 



TESTAMENTARY DISPOSITION. 



pounds, at least leaves to his children the same advantages 
for well-being and well-doing which his father bequeathed 
to him. Just as, on the contrary, every affectionate mind 
must revolt from the idea that his family are to be in- 
volved in financial distress on the very day that their 
natmal guardian is taken from their head. It is surely 
enough that they must feel in all their poignancy the 
woes of orphanage and widowhood, without being sub- 
jected to the ignominy and vexation of a bankruptcy for 
which they are nowise to blame. And as you would pre- 
serve inviolate the sacred ness of sorrow, and as you would 
rescue the house of mourning from the degrading diplo- 
macy, the rude intrusions, and coarse insults incident to 
embarrassed or ruined circumstances, surely no effort 
should be spared, no present self-denial grudged, in order 
to secure a provision for survivors, and so to render your 
affairs simple, explicit, and self-adjusting. 

" There are some subordinate preparations for the final 
event which I would gladly have specified ; but alas ! 
' the dignity of the pulpit ' sets limits to the friendliness of 
the pastor, and perhaps for one discourse I have suffi- 
ciently exceeded the usual range of allowed convention- 
alities, otherwise I should have liked to add, ' Set your 
house in order by securing wise, kind, and pious friends 
for survivors.' In its human provisions there never was a 
shorter will than that which the Son of Mary uttered on 
the cross, ' Woman, behold thy Son ; man, behold thy 
mother but the three years of close and confiding com- 
panionship with which that ' man ' had been favoured by 
his Master, bespoke his fondest services, and prepared him 



THE ACQUISITION OF FRIENDS. 



363 



to fulfil with sacred and tremulous solicitude, his affecting 
and ennobling trust. And in like manner you may have 
little to leave, almost as little as He who had not the poorest 
cottage, or the smallest endowment to bestow on a beloved 
parent's waning years, and whose very apparel was a per- 
quisite forfeited to the soldiers who slew Him. But 
happily, and in the kindness of God, it is possible for the 
poorest, by worth and obligingness, to secure friends who 
may advance his best interests and be of unspeakable 
service to his family when he himself is gone. And, 
amongst those whom I now address, there is probably not 
one who might not secure for himself the affection of 
men whose wisdom and goodness would be a constant 
blessing to himself, and a precious heritage to his children. 
True, this modern world is in a hurry, and hurry begets a 
certain heartlessness ; but if we ourselves take leisure to 
be very good, and very useful, and very amiable, even in 
this rapid age some one or other will find leisure to love 
us. And as it is through the friendship of our fellows 
that the Friend who sticketh closer than a brother sends 
many of His own sweetest mercies, it is worth while to 
seek out and to cultivate the society of those Christians 
who are devout enough to quicken our own languor, and 
faithful enough to indicate and remedy our own defects, 
and whose pious counsels and prayerful watchfulness will 
not lose sight of our earthly representatives, when our- 
selves have disappeared. 

" And I should have liked to add, ' Set your house in 
order, by attending instantly to those matters, whether 
temporal or spiritual, which you mean to do some day/ 



364 



TREASURES LOST. 



Every now and then, inside of some wainscot, or under 
the basement of a ruined tower, people are rinding a 
pot of rusty coins or a tarnished lump of some precious 
metal. It was the hoard of some frugal worthy who 
intended to impart to his heir the secret before he 
died ; but he perished on the battle-field, or was smitten 
down by some sudden stroke, and his secret perished with 
him, — his secret perished, and his heir was poor. And 
so, at this moment, hoarded up in the bosoms of living 
men, are many treasures ; not bullion, not jewel-caskets, 
not minted money, — but good ideas, good intentions, things 
which, if imparted or performed, would enrich by making 
wiser an d better a family, or that eventual heir of all right 
deeds and holy thoughts — mankind. But alas ! if they 
be only in your own bosom when you die, that is a ruin 
which will not divulge its treasure. The information, the 
fact, the project, the thought, has perished ; and so far as 
you are concerned, must remain a secret till the resurrec- 
tion. Then, 'whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might/ . . . And if our house be thus in order, 
we shall not need to mind which of many messengers our 
dear Lord sends to warn us of His coming ; and provided 
it opens the gate and lets in the Saviour and the Sabbath 
of His own immediate presence, we shall not have any 
quarrel with the grim door-keeper, whether it be a stormy 
billow or an exploding engine, a palsy or a pestilence, a 
slow consumption or the rapid and much-dreaded cholera." 

Although the habit of his mind was Christian rather 
than ecclesiastic, and cosmopolitan rather than denomi- 



ADAPTATION. 



365 



national, he was constrained by the necessities of his 
position to undertake a large share in the councils of that 
section of the Church to which he belonged. With 
a positive distaste for Church politics, he was yet com- 
pelled by his talents and influence to be a leader in the 
Church. 

One rule for the Presbyterian Church in England which 
he counted essential, and kept constantly in view, was 
that, while Presbytery should in the south be maintained 
intact, both in its theology and its government, whatever 
was peculiarly Scotch about it might profitably be left 
behind at the border. He was continually thwarted in his 
plans by an inveterate prejudice which held to the acci- 
dents of Scottish habits, as if they were the essentials of 
the Church. He firmly and fondly believed that the 
grand system of doctrine and discipline which Knox intro- 
duced into Scotland might suit England, and be her salva- 
tion in the spiritual deluge that is coming on, if those into 
whose hands the boon has fallen were wise and pliable 
enough to distinguish between essence and accident ; if 
they would give England the living body of the system, 
and not insist on England accepting also every rag of the 
Scottish costume. This was a passion with him — an 
aim which he prosecuted through life. An opportunity 
occurred of ventilating his principles, when Mr. Young, 
an able and good minister, after a brief experiment in 
London, determined to treat the experiment as a failure 
and abandon the field. In the Presbytery, on this occasion, 
he spoke with more bluntness and less reserve than was 
his wont. Probably he felt more at liberty to let out all 



366 



ADAPTATION. 



his mind in connexion with that case, because the minister 
was a man of acknowledged ability and of the highest 
character. There was less danger of giving pain in such 
a case, than if there had been a failure through lack of 
ability. 

At a meeting of Presbytery in March 1850, Dr. 1 Hamil- 
ton said " he felt much for Mr. Young, and felt much for 
the congregation, but most of all for the Presbyterian 
Church in England. Considering how cordial was his 
call, and how clear Mr. Young was in accepting it, he 
could scarcely conceive the effort or the sacrifice which 
their brother should not have made before conceding that 
his coming was a mistake, and his ministry a failure. He 
agreed with what Mr. Chalmers said regarding adapta- 
tion ; but what he lamented was, that so many pious and 
able men failed to adapt themselves. How was it that 
Scotchmen succeeded in every mission except the mission 
to England ? Why, but because to the Jews Dr. Duncan 
became as a Jew, and to the Hindus Dr. Duff became as 
a Hindu ; to the Bushmen Mr. Moffat became as a Bush- 
man. But catch a Scotchman becoming an Englishman 
to the English. We invaded them as in the days of the 
Border raids, and as a preliminary to their becoming 
Presbyterians or Christians, insisted on their first becom- 
ing Scotchmen, We treated them to frosty metaphysics 

1 As the editor could not obtain information in time, lie was obliged, in the 
first instance, to give, conjecturally, his own somewhat vague impression re- 
garding the source and date of this academic degree. Having procured a copy 
of the diploma, he is now (third edition) enabled to intimate that the degree 
of D.D. was conferred upon Mr. Hamilton, in eulogistic but discr imin ating 
terms, by the College of New Jersey in January 1848. 



DEATH OF HIS SISTER'S CHILD. 



367 



and formal dissertations; and whilst we made a great 
parade of our logic, we made a great secret of our feelings. 
The consequence was that we often parted in mutual dis- 
content — the preacher indignant at these stupid English, 
and the hearers effectually tired of that cold and stately 
Scotchman." 

His sister's infant son did not long survive his mother. 
Some notes of the event, and the tender emotions it called 
forth, appear in a letter to his brother Andrew. It fre- 
quently happens that by far the fullest record of his 
thoughts occurs in the letters to this member of the family, 
owing to the circumstance that he was generally in some 
foreign land. To this we owe the two next letters, each 
charged with a great family sorrow. 

"Carnwath, March 22, 1850. 

" My dear Andkew, — When Annie and I heard the sad 
tidings last week, we resolved at once that we would come 
down and see them here. We came on Thursday, and 
found William, who had been here all week. Friday was 
the funeral. He had become a beautiful child. Nothing 
could be lovelier than his look in death. We sent for 
Gall from Edinburgh, who came and took a cast from his 
features. He was buried in Jane's grave, as near as might 
be in his mother's arms. It is a spot in the churchyard 
on a line with the front of the church, enclosed by a neat 
iron railing, and I have got, through young Oliphant, a 
beautiful Gothic design for a tablet. On Sabbath I 
preached for James. You remember the last occasion, — 
and as I looked down on the empty font, I felt how 



368 



DR. OANDLISH IN LONDON. 



pathetic was the close of this little family-history. To 
mamma, this early end of all her tending and all her hopes 
is very touching. But her sore trial took place when 
Jane was taken ; this is only an addition, and it is a death 
in which there was no bitterness. At times she is able 
to be even somewhat cheerful. And in her health she is 
remarkably well. On Tuesday Annie and I crossed over 
to Stonehouse, and spent the day with them. William's 
manse is a pattern of neatness and comfort. His two 
children are great musicians. It is wonderful how many 
tunes little Jane knows. To-morrow we go into Edin- 
burgh, and on Sabbath I preach for Dr. Candlish, who is 
to preach for me. Last Sabbath he preached in Eegent 
Square, and had Dukes and Lords without number, besides 
four Cabinet ministers — Lord J. Eussell, the Earl of Carlisle, 
Sir G-. Grey, Eox Maule. I am told that it was a deeply 
impressive sermon on 1 Cor. iii. 10-17: the importance 
of everything we do as an element of character — every 
good addition on the right foundation being everlasting. 
On Monday I shall be in London, and shall transmit the 
long neglected money to Dr. D. We would fain have 
carried mamma away with us, but it is kinder to J ames 
Walker to leave her here for a little, and she herself would 
like it better. 

" It is solemn to think that the sister side of our family 
table is now extinct to earth ; but sweet to believe that 
they are all in heaven." 

"London, April 11, 1850. 
" You will feel, my dear Andrew, as if all letters from 
Britain were now written in lamentation, and mourning, 



DEATH OF HIS BROTHER'S WIFE. 369 

and woe ; but the letter which, I suppose, you have by 
this time received from William could not startle you 
more than it surprised and prostrated us. When Annie 
and I were at Carnwath we crossed over and spent Tuesday 
the 1 9th at Stonehouse. Christina was then in the highest 
health ; their manse a model of neatness and comfort ; 
their children singing their hymns so sweetly, and as 
obedient as music. Since our return from Scotland we 
had not heard from Stonehouse ; but going in from Hamil- 
ton Terrace to Lansdowne Place last Saturday afternoon, 
we seized two letters from William, expecting a quantity 
of news. The first line told us that she was gone ! 
Beyond the fact that it was fever, and that she was only 
ill from the Thursday till April 3, when she expired at 
eight p.m., we have yet no particulars. To William it is a 
dreadful blow ; to all of us a solemn warning, — 1 Cor. vii. 
29-31. Annie feels it terribly — for since they were so 
much together at Kilmun, Christina had become to her a 
very dear sister. Having a severe cold, I could not go 
down to the funeral ; but on Tuesday, the hour of it, we 
sat in our darkened dwelling, and thought how, at the 
same hour three short weeks before, we had sat at her 
table in the very room where the mourners would be 
assembling in order to carry her to the grave, and we tried 
as well as we could to give thanks for her and to pray for 
poor William. Three gone since last April out of one 
small circle— Jane, April 15; little James, March 12; 
Christina, April 3. I love to think that heaven is our 
family home. They are with Christ, and the grown-up 
survivors, I trust, are in Christ. 

2 a 



370 CHURCH EXTENSION IN SCOTLAND. 



" If spared, I think to give some lectures on Ecclesiastes. 
They will be more ethical, literary, and sesthetical than 
pulpit expositions usually are. I wish to throw on the 
book all the biographical, poetic, and all the other cross- 
lights I can. If God should vouchsafe help, I may possibly 
print the substance afterwards. Is there any Danish com- 
mentator on the book ? or still better, any poet or moralist 
who has parallels to the vanitas vanitatum $ * 

This is the first glimpse of the project which issued in 
The Royal Preacher. 

In May this year, Mr. Hamilton consented to visit 
Glasgow at my request, for the purpose of preaching at 
the opening of a new church. The occasion of this visit 
marked a stage in the series of events which sprang from 
the Disruption. About twenty new churches had been 
erected by voluntary contributions in Glasgow during the 
ten years preceding 1843. This was the fruit of a great 
zeal that had sprung up in the Established Church, and 
had for its aim to supplement the deficiencies of that 
Church, so as to make it, if possible, commensurate with 
the wants of the community. The influence of Dr. 
Chalmers was the mainspring of the movement; but a 
numerous band of public- spirited and Christian men were 
associated with him in the work. The late William Collins, 
publisher, was chief of the Glasgow section, and the twenty 
churches were sometimes called by his name. 

The property was in the title-deeds bound over to the 
Church of Scotland. When the Church, in 1843, came out 
free from the State, the property of all the endowed 



THE QUOAD SACRA CHURCHES. 371 



churches was handed over as a matter of course to the 
body which then succeeded to the functions and emolu- 
ments of the Establishment ; but those newly erected and 
unendowed chapels were, in the first instance, retained by 
their owners and possessors, pending the result of a law- 
suit, instituted for the purpose of determining authorita- 
tively the legal destination of the property. 

The Free Church occupiers conceded that the buildings 
were attached to the Establishment, but they rested their 
case on the fact that the attachment was made on condi- 
tion that the Church should assign a parish to each, with 
all ecclesiastical rights and machinery. The Assembly 
had, for a number of years, been in the habit of granting 
such constitutions to new parishes on its own authority, 
not presuming to constitute civil rights, but limiting its 
action to the spiritual sphere. These were accordingly 
called parishes quoad sacra, that is, parishes that were 
designated by the Assembly as the sphere for minister 
and elders in their spiritual capacity, without pretending to 
touch any material property or civil right. But by this 
time it had been decided in the civil courts that the 
Assembly of the Church had no right to apportion a parish 
even quoad sacra, and that in pretending to do so it had 
exceeded its powers. The case of the Eree Church, ac- 
cordingly, in claiming the property, was this : We confess 
that we bound the fabrics to the Established Church ; but 
we bound them to it with a condition — a condition which, 
as now ruled, it is beyond the power of the Church to 
fulfil : as the Church cannot fulfil the condition, it cannot 
claim the property. Two things were proved, and easily 



372 



CONGREGATIONS EJECTED. 



proved : first, that no other assignment of a parish was 
contemplated by the parties, than the quoad sacra assign- 
ment which the Church at the time was accustomed to 
grant ; and second, that this assignment of a parish to each 
chapel was counted so essential that the heading of the 
subscription lists, when the money was raised, bore that, 
unless this condition were fulfilled, the subscribers would 
not be held to their promises. 

The case went through the Courts, and was finally de- 
cided by the House of Lords, in 1848, against the claims 
of the Free Church. It was found that the constitution 
given to the churches was good to bind the property to 
the Establishment, but not good to compel the Establish- 
ment to fulfil the condition. 

The result was, that a considerable number of the Free 
Church congregations were suddenly deprived of their 
churches. They found temporary accommodation as well 
as they could, and proceeded with all speed to erect new 
fabrics. Mr. Hamilton, although he had devoted his life 
to England, remained in complete sympathy with the Free 
Church in her testimony and her struggle. To identify 
himself with us at this crisis he came to Scotland, and 
preached in one of these churches, St. Peter's, Glasgow, 
on the last Sabbath of May 1850. His visit was much 
appreciated, and many old friends, both his father's and 
his own, gathered affectionately round him. 

"May 1, 1850. 

" My dear Arnot, — I am glad of the day you have 
fixed for the opening, the last Sabbath of May, for it will 
enable me to spend a few days at the Assembly. I am 



FIRST OF MAY AT GLASGOW COLLEGE. 373 



further glad that yon have no week-day service, for a good 
deal of toil, and some grief, have made me rather relnctant 
for extra services. 

"Dr. Duff is in town. I spent two hours with him 
yesterday at Sir John Pirie's. He looks no older than 
eleven years ago. 

"This is the 1st of May, in London only distinguished 
by the dancing of chimney-sweeps, in Glasgow by the 
doffing of red gowns. Dear Arnot, are you ever like to 
cry when you think of these old May mornings, and 
think what a gulf of irremeable years now lies between 
us and them ? To you and me, I take it, they were much 
alike. They brought a modest portion of prizes, enough 
to make us respectable, without the envy which accom- 
panied Colquhoun, and Mackinlay, and Halley, and such 
Mmrods of the college, cunning prize-hunters ; a solatium 
to take home withal, and the sweet self-complacency to 
boot, that we could have won more had we chosen. Just 
now I am looking at the row of well-gilt volumes, and 
thinking how much brighter they looked when bran-new 
and bathed in all the glory of the Common Hall. Alas ! 
nearly every hand is in the dust which wrote my name 
in these books. 

" Last week I met Bailie Playfair at dinner ; and we 
recalled that glorious dinner party, when Mr. Kettle filled 
us all roarin' fu' with jugs of water ! 

" Farewell, my dear friend, I hope our meeting may be 
by the will of God. Mrs. H. joins in kindest regards to 
Mrs. Arnot and yourself. She is sorry that she cannot 
take advantage of your kind invitation. We once hoped 



374 



OCCUPATIONS ON A JOURNEY. 



to have come to Scotland together at this time, but higher 
wisdom has altered that plan. — Ever affectionately yours, 

"James Hamilton." 

The very thought of visiting Glasgow awakens a crowd 
of tender memories. The 1st of May is signalized as 
the day when the College of Glasgow is formally closed 
for the season. The assembly in the Common Hall for 
the distribution of honours is an imposing and exciting 
scene. 

The gentlemen commemorated by name, were two of 
those Scotch worthies who contributed to make " Glasgow 
nourish" when Hamilton was a student there, in their 
double capacity of earnest Christians and successful mer- 
chants. The latter was distinguished by a long, consist- 
ent, and able advocacy of the Temperance cause. 

" Stonehouse, May 21, 1850. 

"Beloved Annie, — The tear stood in your eye when 
we parted, and your pale loving face followed me all the 
way. Miss Young picked up an acquaintance, Mr. 
M'Clure, who chatted to her most of the way, till another 
friend took his place. So all the day-light I read, and 
in the tunnels I offered little prayers for you and baby 
and others dear. I got through the fourth volume ol 
Southey's Life, and corrected a proof-sheet. The provi- 
sions were very serviceable ; but why did you roguishly 
impose on a Jew like me, sandwiches of swine's flesh? 
However, hunger is a good casuist, and the sandwiches 
were all eaten, and have done me no harm. At Mother- 
well I got a labourer, a navvy, to carry my portmanteau, 



OLD FRIENDS IN GLASGOW. 



375 



and at Hamilton chartered a fly. It was late, and the 
toll-keepers came out like ghosts to open the gates. It 
struck twelve on the village clock, just as I drew up at 
this door. James Walker, half- dressed, opened it, and 
soon William and mamma came down. They had given 
me up, and gone to hed. Little Jane looks very delicate. 
She and William are in ecstasies with the musical cart. 
Poor William ! I have not spoken about Christina yet, 
but we are going out to see her grave. Marion Proud- 
foot is here, and they have got a very nice maid for the 
children. J. H." 

"14 Queen's Terrace, Glasgow, 
May 25, 1850. 

" My dear Annie, — You must never grow old, but that 
fond heart is to keep overflowing with affection, fresh and 
girlish, even when your hair is grey. Welcome cups of 
cold water, — only more sparkling and inspiring than cold 
water are those little libations of love which the penny 
post brings from the lass I love best. Yesterday's has 
just come in. Little Mary Laird met me with it at the 
door. I suppose her mamma had made her understand 
that it was a very important despatch, — at least she was 
carrying it enfolded in both arms. 

" Last night Arnot had a party of eighteen, including 
Dr. and Mrs. Smyth, Mrs. Somerville, Mrs. Samuel Miller, 
Mrs. Anderson (Janet Halley). 1 On Monday he is to 
have a breakfast." 

1 Sister of the deceased student, his companion during all his illness in 
Madeira, a feminine counterpart both of his talents and his principles, much 
remembered by the generation of students who were contemporary with her 
brother. 



376 



PREACHING IN GLASGOW. 



" Glasgow, Monday Morning, 
May 27, 1850. 

" My dear Wife, — We had a grand day yesterday — not 
meteorologically grand, for it was raining, but the services 
were interesting and well attended. I preached in the 
morning and evening, Mr. Arnot in the afternoon. In 
the morning and afternoon the regular seatholders were 
admitted by tickets ; in the evening there were no tickets, 
and it was fine to see the mighty mass of people who 
made the interior a pavement of 'living stones/ The 
collection was £434, 15 s. 

" They had over to tea on Saturday evening Dr. Mac- 
Gilvray and his wife (Miss Hooker), 1 whom I was very 
glad to meet again. 

" Edin., 5 p.m. — On my way here I turned aside for two 
hours at Blair Lodge, and saw James and Tommy Gil- 
lespie. Mr. Cunningham's is an excellent school, — much 
more happy and home-like than anything I have seen in 
England." 

Having been nominated on this occasion on the depu- 
tation from his own Synod to the General Assembly of 
the Free Church, he took the opportunity of speaking his 
mind fully on some points which were intensely interest- 
ing to himself, and ought to have interested deeply his 
audience. As the topics of his speech on that occasion 
constituted the chief practical aims of his life, and the 
audience he addressed was, for his purposes, by far the 
most influential that existed, there is no more effectual 

1 Daughter of his faithful friend and teacher, Sir William Hooker. 



SPEECH IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 



377 



way of illustrating his character than by introducing the 
substance of his speech. He was most affectionately re- 
ceived, and his words were not permitted to fall to the 
ground. 

"... There was a threefold function for an orthodox 
Presbyterianism in England. It should first of all be a 
home for expatriated Scotchmen— a nursing mother for 
your Church's orphan children. For remember how many 
Scotchmen are located in England. Why, sir, in a single 
large town of England you will find as many Scotchmen 
as in some of our northern counties. There are nearly as 
many Scotchmen in London as in Edinburgh. And what 
becomes of them ? In the absence of Presbyterian ordi- 
nances, what is the fate of these immigrants ? In Clifton 
and Cheltenham, and Brighton and Hastings, and such 
places, where our refined and wealthy countrymen go to 
live for the sake of their far-famed salubrity, they join 
the Church of England, and the pious parents become the 
right arm of the evangelical clergymen ; but their children, 
M. and 1ST., who received a Christian's name in their 
baptismal regeneration, turn out Puseyites — the girls em- 
broidering altar-cloths and fald-stool covers, and the boys 
making High Church speeches in Parliament. And then 
the pious tradesman or steady artisan from your Lowlands 
who settles in a provincial town, finding no Presbyterian 
Church, as the next best joins the Baptist or Independent 
chapel, and soon, by dint of superior intelligence and 
sound theology, backed by his manly bearing, you will 
find him in a few years the principal deacon, the chief 
supporter of a congregation, which, however excellent, is 



378 LACK OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 



not a Presbyterian. Whilst a much larger class, many 
of the artisans and clever operatives, breaking loose from 
the religious restraint of their fatherland, sit down in the 
seat of the scorner, become libertines and lawless livers, 
and in workshops and factories, as the apostles of Social- 
ism and the champions of infidelity, pervert their good 
education to the perdition of their hapless companions, and 
bring a stigma on the land whose faith they have re- 
nounced, and from whose virtues they have apostatized. 

" But besides proving a timely home for these wanderers, 
an effective Presbyterian church might be an asylum to 
many refugees from the Church of England. At this 
moment there are doubtless many who, in the event of 
coming calamity, are marvelling into what community to 
convey themselves and their children. Would that our 
Church were so fully equipped and so conspicuous that, 
in its sound doctrine and scriptural organization, they saw 
a ready ark against the coming deluge ! 

" And this leads me to add, as a third good service which 
our Church might render — it might serve as a tonic to 
English theology. My friend Mr. Macgilvray remarked 
to me last night that England is not the land for testi- 
monies. The reason is, that England is not the land for 
theology. As you are aware, theology is scarcely taught 
at all in the English universities ; and though the Dis- 
senters are very anxious to provide theological train- 
ing for their ministers, many of their pastors never 
pass through their colleges. The consequence is, that 
the usual ministrations of English pulpits are in doc- 
trine very meagre and jejune; and consequently Eng- 



FAILURE OF THE RED CLOVER. 379 



lish piety, even when most fervent, is ill able to give 
a reason for its faith. In fact, English piety is too mol- 
luscous. It is sadly in want of vertebrae. It needs 
a back-bone. And nowhere would the food convenient 
be better bestowed, which within its soft frame would 
go to form the bones and cartilage. And with the 
orthodox osteology of their own English confessions and 
catechisms (for the Westminster standards are English), 
with the firm substructure of a sound and Puritan evan- 
gelism, covered over with the flesh and sinews and mant- 
ling life's-blood of English virtues and English graces, 
southern piety would stand on its feet exceeding strong and 
fair, withal able to ' testify ' and to adorn its testimony. 

" When I was assistant to a minister in the Carse of 
Gowrie, I often heard it mooted among the farmers, 
'What ails the red clover? surely the Ian' has ta'en a 
scunner at the red clover ? 1 Perhaps, sir, the author of the 
Manse Garden could have solved the mystery ; but really 
I could not tell how a plant, which had once grown freely, 
and been almost naturalized, had sickened of the soil. 
The same question is now often put to me, but in another 
shape. I have been asked, What ails Presbyterianism ? 
surely the soil has taken a scunner at our system ? And 
I am told of able and excellent ministers who have aban- 
doned the field in despair, and come home thoroughly 
disheartened. Now, I might answer, first of all, that Pres- 
byterianism has never got a chance. Till of late the 
clover seed was about as bad as could be. Not only had 
we to bear the reproach of Socinianism, but many of the 
ministers who supplied our churches were the refuse of 



380 



LACK OF ADAPTATION. 



Scotland — dead and useless moderates, or dissipated and 
disgraceful men. But though that reproach is wiped 
away, we have still to contend with many drawbacks. 
Soon after their coming amongst us, some of our ministers 
have been attacked by violent home-sickness ; and when- 
ever we hear the tune, ' My heart 's in the Highlands,' we 
next expect to see the musician in the express train on 
the Great North line ; and then the next spring will be, 
' I '11 gang nae mair to yon toon.' 

" Then, again, many have formed most extravagant ex- 
pectations. Coming to England, the romance of Edward 
Irving floated before their eyes, and because all England did 
not run to hear them directly, they could not forgive the dul- 
ness or capriciousness of the English ; whereas they would 
have been wise to set to work as missionaries, with the view 
of their becoming ministers ; by pains and personal assiduity 
gathering round them a few, and then, with the help of these 
few, gathering more. But the grand cause of failure is the 
want of adaptation. Some say that our psalms, and tunes, 
and prayers are not adapted to the English ; but I have 
always thought that we might soon find the service 
adapted, if we took pains to adapt ourselves. The Eng- 
lish are eminently practical. To a theological lecture 
they any day prefer a living epistle ; and if they have no 
other choice, they will take to a genial Arminian rather 
than to a glum Calvinist. In this they may be wrong, 
but still they do it ; and therefore we should show them 
Calvinism and Presbyterianism in their most genial aspect. 
The two favours which we more especially ask of the Eree 
Church — and we ask them as your little sister, very little, 



SCOTCH AND ENGLISH PIETY. 381 

but very loving, and who can do so much for us as you ? 
— are, first, that you would introduce to some one of our 
ministers all families and all young men proceeding to a 
residence in England. Many ministers already are in the 
habit of doing this, and it has been the saving of hundreds. 
One other request is, that you would give a kind con- 
sideration to our calls. In the famous '45, and when the 
rebels were in Edinburgh, one night a Highland follower 
of the Prince was taken up by the watch, because it was 
plain that he could not take care of himself. And when, 
in the guard-house, he came somewhat to his senses, his 
first ejaculation was 'Hech, sirs! it's sair wark flittin' 
thae kings ! ' We in England have found it sair work 
flitting Free Church ministers. Some of us have travelled 
thousands of miles on the errand, and never once suc- 
ceeded. Perhaps after this we may find it easier. Per- 
haps we may be so happy as to find ministers who can 
realize the mighty advantages for usefulness conferred on 
them by labouring in that region, which is really the heart 
of the world." . . . 

In a conversation with Mr. W. Dickson of Edinburgh, 
he undertook to exhibit the distinction between the Eng- 
lish and the Scotch type of Christianity. English Chris- 
tianity, he said, is, " God so loved the world," etc. Scotch 
Christianity is, " Being justified by faith, we have peace 
with God," etc. 

"London, July 1, 1S50. 

" My dear William, — . . . We have a number of 
Americans at church at present. The only noted ones 



382 



PROJECTS. 



(besides my old friend Mr. Lenox) are, Professor Hitchcock 
the geologist, and Mr. Tappan, of their Tract Society, who 
says that my books have a far wider circulation in America 
than in Britain. I am very glad to hear it ; for I have a 
great affinity for America." 

" 7 Lansdowe Place, July 7, 1850. 

" To-day, my frame of mind has been somewhat de- 
votional. Yesterday and to-day, I have been again and 
again drawn to the throne of grace, and in the ' confes- 
sion of sin/ and ' offering up of desires/ trust that I realized 
something of the spirit of prayer. 

" The quiet of the last four days suggests to me that I 
live too much in a hurry. The death of dear Jane last 
year, and Christina's this spring, were solemn incidents in 
our family history ; but I got no time to lay them to heart. 
I find, too, that secret prayer is often shortened by the 
daily pressure. And though I cannot run about with the 
ubiquitous agility of some, the same injurious effect is 
produced by the perpetual bustle of my thoughts. I am 
always scheming something, or anxious about something, 
and have much need, as Annie told me, to set a bridle on 
the brain. 

"My projects at present are — 

" 1. Biographical sketches of Watts and Doddridge (two 
articles), and their contemporaries. 

"These for the N. British Review. They would be 
two more chapters in that bird's-eye survey of British 
Christianity, of which ' Simeon * is one chapter. And I 
expect this good for myself, that they might help me 



BIBLE MONOPOLY. 



333 



towards that idea of Christianity, catholic but earnest, at 
which I try to arrive. 

" 2. Lectures on Ecclesiastes, to my own people in the 
first instance, for publication afterwards. 

" 3. A Manual, which might answer the purpose of a 
modern ' Eise and Progress. 3 Eor this considerable mate- 
rials He dispersed through my sermons, and it might very 
well be made the basis of a practical course to my own 
conoTe station. This last, if God give me health and ability, 
might be the most useful of my books ; I would therefore 
take pains with it." 

Dr. Thomson of Coldstream, an able and estimable 
minister of the United Presbyterian Church, for many 
years waged a great warfare against the monopoly of 
printing the Bible that was enjoyed for generations by a 
certain mercantile firm in Scotland, and certain corpora- 
tions in England. His perseverance and energy contri- 
buted greatly to get the monopoly removed, and to cheapen 
the Scriptures to the people. But having himself set 
up a printing establishment, with the benevolent object 
of still further reducing the price, and so extending the 
circulation of the Word, he was unsuccessful, and became 
bankrupt. An appeal was made for his relief. It was a 
nice case. Whatever view one may take of the point in 
debate, James Hamilton's letter is, we think, precious as 
an example of perfect frankness in expressing an adverse 
judgment, instead of shuffling and hiding under a reason 
that is not real : — 



384 PUBLIC APPEALS FOR RELIEF OF MINISTERS. 



TO THE EEV. 

"Boulogne, Aug. 22, 1850. 
" My deae * * * — It was only this morning that yours 
of the 1 5th overtook rne here ; and thus I am sorry that 
it has remained long unanswered. And now that I am 
writing, I wish that I felt free to comply with your request. 
For Dr. Thomson personally I have a true esteem, and 
deeply sympathize in the heavy losses which he has sus- 
tained. At first, too, I was disposed to join in this move- 
ment, but on talking over the matter with several intelligent 
friends, I found that they did not view it in the same 
light. Considering the public spirit by which Dr. Thomson 
was actuated, and the hardship of his case, they argued 
that it was just one of those hardships to which publishers 
and commercial men are continually exposed, and that if 
there were any speciality in the Doctor's case, it was rather 
against than for him, inasmuch as a minister should not 
overstep his line of things, nor entangle himself with 
mercantile matters. Whatever may be the justice of such 
reasonings, I find they are held by so many as to make an 
appeal from the pulpit a matter of doubtful expediency ; 
and it is only candid to add that, in the present state of 
my information, I am inclined to acquiesce in them. 
Besides, as a general consideration, public appeals on 
behalf of ministers in pecuniary difficulties are much to 
be deprecated. Their tendency is to lower the ministry, 
and compromise the religion of which they are the official 
expounders. I assure you that it would have given me 
great delight to comply with a request conveyed by you ; 
and that I would have felt it a privilege to see Eegent 



HIS LIBRARY. 



385 



Square pulpit occupied by any one of the distinguished 
ministers who form the deputation. But for the reasons 
above mentioned, I fear that I cannot take part in the 
present movement. Instead of an evading reply, I have 
also thought it best to state the difficulties I feel. — Believe 
me, my dear Sir, most truly yours, 

" James Hamilton." 
to mr. james watson. 

" 7 Lansdownb Place, July 5, 1850. 

" My dear Friend, — No miser can ever have gloated 
over gold as I revel over books, — books that go to swell 
my own hoard. But when that monster parcel arrived on 
Wednesday afternoon, soon after we parted, my temples 
were throbbing with incipient fever, and it was not till 
to-day, when I came down-stairs somewhat recovered, that 
I entered into the full fruition. All this evening I have 
been a cow among clover, and now that I realize my 
riches, I must send a word of thanks for the Poole and the 
Kitto and the endless Biographies, the most satisfying 
banquet that was ever furnished to a morbid appetite for 
printed paper, a monomania librorum. I am almost re- 
conciled that my head is too weak for writing, as it will 
justify me in two days of reading. 

"If spared to get them arranged in another house, I 
must write a catalogue of my tomes. This would bring 
up some curious discoveries. Several of my books have 
belonged to interesting persons. To-day I found out 
that my copy of Jackson's Works belonged to Jortin, the 
biographer of Erasmus. It has his autograph. My Char- 

2b 



386 



NEANDER AND VINET. 



nock belonged to Eb. Erskine, but in repairing it (in my 
father's time) the binder cut away the name. I have 
books that belonged to Bishop Burnet, Dr. Jo. Erskine, 
etc., and others would cast up. 

" Already (partly through your help) my collection of 
religious biography is as large as any that I know. 

" James Hamilton." 

" 42 Gower Street, London, 
Sept. 20, 1850. 

"My dear Andrew, — . . . When we heard from 
William last week, they were all well. Mamma had gone 
across to spend a fortnight at Carnwath. William's beau- 
tiful schools are now completed, at a cost of a thousand 
pounds to Uncle Thomas. 

"You are going to Berlin, but you will not see your 
old friend Neander, nor grasp again his shadowy hand. 
It is a sign how self-contained and self-satisfied English 
Theology is, that the disappearance of such a man has 
produced no sensation here. Neither did the death of 
Vinet a few years ago. But I see that the American 
papers say a great deal about Neander. D'Aubigne is 
the only foreign divine whose death would be much felt 
in Britain. Indeed we are a very apathetic incurious 
people, the religious world I mean. Last night I had 
here a Dutch preacher going out to the Cape. He spoke 
in ecstasies about Van Oostersee as the greatest pulpit 
orator whom Holland had ever produced; but I cannot 
say that I ever heard his name. . . . 

"Poor Hewitson, after months of extremest weakness 



STUDY OF ECCLESIASTES. 



387 



is entered into rest. His talents were not of the highest 
order ; but his devotedness and his spirituality were, and 
the work in Madeira was enough to signalize any ministry. 

" You are not sanguine about English Presbyterianism. 
At present we are sufficiently forlorn in London, with 
Nicolson, Ferguson, and Young away." 

" 42 Gower Street, London, 
Sept. 23, 1850. 

" My deak Andrew, — I hope you got the letter which 
I addressed to you at Dr. Daumann's last Friday, and 
which contained any little news I had. I am now fairly 
installed in my library, and a noble room it is. I have 
begun a series of lectures on Ecclesiastes, to which I hope 
I have got the clue. Of recent German commentators I 
have Umbreit, and Kostes, and Knobel. If there is any 
other good thing in German within the last twelve years 
I shall be glad to get it, and will in due time indemnify 
you for it. This winter I make no engagements away 
from home ; except, perhaps, that I shall exchange with 
Dr. Candlish two Sabbaths in February, so that I hope to 
have an unprecedented bout of reading and writing. It 
is curious that I should be lecturing on vanitas vanita- 
tum at a time that I have all and abound, health, a com- 
modious house, a sufficient income, plenty of friends, wife 
and child quite well, congregation thriving and all going 
smoothly there ; and betwixt these outward comforts and 
higher hopes, my mind for some time past in a perpetual 
key of contentment. This perhaps makes the Book more 
a word in season ; but, at the same time, I do not put 



388 



REV. DR. JOHN BROWN. 



that Trappian interpretation on the Book which most 
expositors have done." 

An affectionate note from the late Dr. John Brown, of 
Edinburgh, an eminent theologian and a personal friend of 
his father, should find a place here. The colleague, now 
successor, to whom Dr. Brown refers, is Dr. Andrew 
Thomson, who paced the dingy courts of Glasgow College 
with Hamilton, when both were young, and has run a 
parallel career with him of honour and usefulness in the 
northern capital : 1 — 

" Arthur's Lodge, Newington, 
Sept. 28, 1850. 

"Beverend and dear Sir, — Many, many thanks for your 
kind and valuable present. You have long been among 
my dyaTrrjTol Sea tou? irare'pas, and your hold on my 
esteem and love is by no means all hereditary. It is 
always a satisfaction to me to know that I am loved by 
those whom I love. I have run over Hooker with much 
interest. It is by no means a specimen of very strict 
exegesis, but it is full to an overflow of a holy, benignant 
spirit. Should a second edition of my Exposition be re- 
quired, I will enrich its margin with some extracts from 
the old New England Puritan. My colleague, who, with 
his family, are now in the country, will, I know, most 
cordially receive your salutation. I regret that circum- 
stances will prevent me from meeting my brethren at the 
approaching conference at LiverpooL I cannot wish them 

1 A generous and appreciative sketch of Hamilton, written by Dr. Thomson, 
appeared in the Christian Times, 22d November 1849. 



BIRTH OF HIS SON. 



389 



anything better than such a meeting as they last had 
here. I do not expect to witness anything more like 
heaven on earth. With heart-felt wishes for your per- 
sonal happiness and your success in all your labours in 
the cause of our common Lord, — I am, rev. and dear 
Sir, yours most faithfully, John Brown." 

TO MR. WILLIAM HAMILTON. 

" London, Oct. 21, 1850. 

"My dear Mr. Hamilton, — The Messenger and the 
usual avocations of Monday leave me only a few minutes, 
before the letter-box closes, to thank you for your 
much-prized letter of Monday. How often there is a 
crook in the lot ! And how vexing it would seem that 
just on arriving at such a beautiful coast, Mrs. Hamilton 
should hurt her foot, and be incapacitated for fully enjoy- 
ing it. To a slug like me, who could stick to this arm- 
chair for a week, and rather like it, the hardship would be 
less ; but to peripatetics like yourselves, the privation is 
very great. But even a strained foot is among the things 
that will work together for good. 

" You kindly ask after Annie. Do you know that yes- 
terday she got a son ? I was going to say a little son, but 
he is not at all little, very large, and, I must confess, not 
very pretty. She herself is getting on nicely. It was not 
the best time for study ; but, foreseeing such a possible in- 
terruption, I had got both sermons set agoing early. 

" Many thanks for your kind inquiries about the ex- 
chequer. But at present ' I have all, and abound/ The 



390 REASONS FOE STAYING AT HOME. 



other cheque, about which you know, will last very well 
till you return, J. H." 

" 42 Gower Street, London, 
Oct. 22, 1850. 

"My dear Andrew, — ... I hope the Saga you 
mention has not been translated. I think I can find out. 
Such a book would not be likely to have much run, unless 
you could popularize it by a historical preface and mythi- 
cal notes, written in a racy or gossiping style. But such 
a book, thoroughly and carefully done, would be an im- 
portant contribution to literature, and I think you should 
by all means go on with it. . . . 

" I fear to hold out any prospect of a visit to Berlin 
this winter. I would almost say any winter. My frame 
is not robust enough for journeys through the frost. And 
besides, it will be no easy thing to get away. An article 
for the North British, promised to your old friend Pro- 
fessor Fraser, and a lecture to the Young Men's Associa- 
tion, and an exchange with Dr^ Candlish for a fortnight 
in February, along with the Messenger and sundry tracts, 
and the possibility of preparing for the press my lectures 
on Ecclesiastes, leave me very hard up for time. If it 
were summer, and I were single, there is no saying what I 
might do ; but when you come to be a steady-going minis- 
ter, with a wife and family, and have got your house and 
library all to your mind, you will find your erratic and 
exploring propensities wonderfully die away." 

James Hamilton was not a controversialist. His whole 
mind and character were cast in another mould. Even 



STRONG CONVICTIONS AS A PHOTESTANT. 391 



where it is a just and necessary service, he rather left 
controversy to others, and plied his own departments, of 
unfolding positively Divine truth, and enforcing practical 
holiness. It would, however, be a great mistake to sup- 
pose he was more tolerant than his brethren of any error 
that subverts the Gospel. Of Popery in particular, and of 
Popish tendencies in English prelacy, he entertained a 
healthy Protestant horror. In Church and State alike he 
was liberal, both from conviction and from an apparently 
innate habit of mind; but he never slipped into that 
species of liberalism which holds it a point of honour to 
ignore the difference between the slavish system of Papal 
Eome and the great Protestant principles of private judg- 
ment and the sufficiency of Scripture. With all his 
gentleness he was a Protestant of the Martin Luther and 
John Knox type ; and when occasion called for it he was 
ready to express publicly his convictions without reserve. 

The circumstances of the time seem to demand that the 
testimony of such a man regarding these subjects should 
not be concealed. It is our duty to permit him for once 
to speak out his own Protestantism, that all men may 
know of what sort it was. We subjoin an extract, suffi- 
ciently large to exhibit his views in their connexion, from 
an address to his own congregation, delivered on 17th 
November 1850, under the title, "Bomanism : its Koot of 
Bitterness :" — 

" God is light, and God is love. The Gospel is the grand 
outlet of Infinite purity and Divine benevolence ; and Chris- 
tianity, or the religion which the Gospel creates, is the reli- 
gion of daylight and goodness. He is the man most Christian 
who into his own soul has admitted the greatest amount of 



392 



" LOOK ON THIS PICTURE, 



God's merciful kindness, and who in his conduct gives forth 
the largest measure of God's beautiful holiness — the man who 
' walks in light,' and ' dwells in love/ afraid of nothing holy, 
afraid of nothing true. 

" The bright embodiment of God's truth and goodness was 
His own incarnate Son. * He was the true light which light- 
eth every man that cometh into the world,' and one of the 
most remarkable features in Christ's character was the pro- 
fusion with which He scattered the sublime beauties of which 
He was the repository, as well as the patient and public life 
He led. The Saviour had no secret. During the years of 
His ministry He had not even a home — no retirement into 
which He could withdraw and gather a whispering conclave 
round Him ; and all the time, and with full knowledge of his 
treachery, He retained in His immediate retinue one who was 
an eaves-dropper and a spy. So little reserve was there in 
His teaching that when interrogated regarding it, He said to 
the Hebrew Pontiff, 'I spake openly in the world; I ever 
taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither the Jews 
always resort, and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest 
thou me 1 ask them who heard me, what I have said unto 
them'; behold, they know what I have said.' And so anxious 
was He for the diffusion of His doctrine, that He not only 
enjoined His disciples to go into all the world and teach it ; 
but if there was any truth which He had told them in His 
more private interviews, He charged them to divulge it. 
6 That which ye have heard in the ear in secret, proclaim ye 
on the house tops.' Truth-freighted, light-loving, His con- 
stant appeal was to that magazine of light which already 
existed in the older Testament ; and He entreated the Jews 
to * search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of 
me;' and as if there were a natural affinity between the 
Saviour and the sunshine, most of His discourses were de- 
livered under the open sky, and surrounded with the full 
glare of a bright Eastern atmosphere. 

" And whilst the part of the Saviour was thus frank and 
explicit, the substance of His teaching was singularly direct 
and real. Except two ordinances of the simplest character, 
and for which He prescribed no rubric, He never instituted 



AND ON that; 



393 



any ceremony, but the whole weight of His instruction bore 
on the one theme — practical piety. . . . 

" Such is Christianity as I find in its earliest records — 
Divine Majesty in its truths, and in the worship and conduct 
of its professors a heavenly day-spring, a religion worthy of 
that God whose name is Light and Love. But let us fancy 
that we have slept a thousand years, and that now we awake 
again. And what have we here 1 ? So dusky is the atmo- 
sphere that we must wait till our eyes forget the sunshine 
and conform to the 'dim religious light' of mediaeval Chris- 
tianity. But this is a Catholic cathedral, and through an 
atmosphere grey with pastiles and smoking incense, I can now 
descry in a scarlet cloak, in scarlet hat, and scarlet hosen, a 
figure enthroned, and purporting to be the facsimile of Peter 
the fisherman. And those unearthly figures, with shaven 
crowns and tawdry tinsel down their backs, so abundant in 
their bodily exercise — 'Who are these V 'These are Chris- 
tian priests.' ' But why is there that stern partition between 
the priests inside the railing and the spiritual priests all 
through the church V 'Ah, do you not understand: his 
Excellency the Cardinal, my Lord the Bishop, as well as these 
reverend priests, belong to a different order from the common 
herd of Christians outside.' ' This was not the way in the 
Apostles' time, when one was our Master, even Christ, and 
there were no lords over God's heritage, but all alike were 
" holy brethren.'" 'What are they saying 1 ? What curious 
sounds are those which catch my ear 1 ? — "Adjuro vos per 
Dominum, ut legatur epistola hsec omnibus Sanctis.'" 'It 
merely means, " I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle 
be read unto all the holy brethren ;" and don't you hear how 
he is reading it — in Latin 1 which, however, none of our holy 
brethren understand.' ' But here I have got it both in its 
original Greek and in my own tongue.' 'Have you, you 
heretic] Beware, or we may burn both thee and thy pesti- 
lent book.' ' And this female figure on the wall V ' That is 
one of our mediators betwixt God and man.' ' And do you 
not worship the Saviour at all] ' '0 yes; that is He above 
the high altar ! ' ' The altar ! are you Pagans or Jews ] or 
do you not know that Christ's one offering has perfected His 



394 



THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 



saints for ever % But those priests curtseying and crossing 
and muttering at the altar, what are they doing]' 'They 
are making the body of God ! ' 

" Among the old superstitions there was one of some signi- 
ficance. They alleged that a demon sometimes got possession 
of the armour, or of the actual body of some slain warrior, 
and walked the world in the stolen exuviae. And of course 
so apparent was the identity that even nearest friends mis- 
took. The ferryman rowed across his fancied chieftain, and 
the warder opened the castle gate, and the lady of the hall 
welcomed home her absent lord ; and it was not till she saw 
through the vizor fishy eyes, or the gauntlet dropped off and 
revealed the dragon's green and scaly paw, that a Jiellish 
laugh confessed the fiend, and from a swoon she woke to find 
at her side her husband's gory corpse, or the cradled infant 
dead. And of this weird fable we have been often reminded 
as we look at Popery. Cramming into the slough of Chris- 
tianity its seven sacraments and all its superstitions; con- 
stantly invoking the Trinity, and ostentatiously exhibiting 
symbols of the faith ; naming the name of Christ, and swear- 
ing that it is His only Church, it comes with its lying won- 
ders, deceiving if possible the very elect; and it is not till 
unsuspecting piety has opened the door that the howl of the 
sheep-like innocent reveals the wolf : it is not till the soul 
that sought the mild and merciful Eedeemer finds itself in 
the grasp of a superstition half-brutish, half-infernal, that the 
terrible truth flashes forth, and where it expected to leap 
into the arms of a Saviour, it sinks crushed in the coils of 
Antichrist. 

" But how ghastly the substitution effected ! How came 
the Romish mockery to steal and wear so long the mask of 
Christianity ? 

" First of all, it found piety, if not dead, very faint and 
feeble, and so incapable of effective resistance. There was 
no Popery at Pentecost, and a perpetual Pentecost would 
have rendered Popery a perpetual impossibility. Even before 
the apostolic era ended, the love and devotion and heavenly- 
mindedness of the Church were dying down, and before the 
second century closed there was very little left ; and, as every 



THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 



395 



man knows by himself, when lukewarmness makes him legal, 
or a loose profession of the Gospel makes his conscience dis- 
contented, he is so far a Papist. He begins instinctively to 
look about for some other saving name than that which God 
has given. You can easily understand how the root of bitter- 
ness began to spring up in a loose or legal age. Ceasing to 
look to Jesus for justification, men were constrained to look 
to something else ; and the first thing thought of was bap- 
tismal water. Everything was done to exaggerate its import- 
ance and increase its value. Oil was put on the receiver's 
head to show his consecration as a spiritual priest, and an 
exorcism was used in order to expel the devil ; and the notion 
began to prevail that baptismal water was the second birth, 
and washed all sin away. But as it was too evident that 
many left the font, and took their old sins, at least their old 
hearts, with them, it became needful to find some supplemental 
salvation ; and as men were now looking, not to the living 
Christ at the Father's right hand, but to material and palpable 
substitutes, they fixed on the other ' sensible sign;' and to 
backsliders or dying worldlings who wished to make their 
salvation sure, they said, 4 Eeceive this other sacrament : eat 
Christ's body, and obtain eternal life.' And just as they had 
magnified the initial rite of Christianity into a regenerating 
magic, so, on the same principle, they transformed the memo- 
rial feast into a saving mystery. The alertness of an en- 
lightened understanding and the docility of a meek and 
believing heart were no longer needed so much as the exact 
performance of a mechanical process. It was no longer, 
' This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and 
Jesus whom Thou hast sent;' no longer, 'God gave His Son 
that whoso believeth in Him should not perish ; ' but ' wash 
and be clean, eat and live.' It was no longer salvation by 
the blood and righteousness of Christ, but salvation by bap- 
tismal water, salvation by the eucharistic wafer. 

" It is the tendency of humanity, depraved and carnal, con- 
tinually to substitute the material object for the unseen and 
the spiritual change. To this propensity vital Christianity is 
strongly opposed. No doubt the Gospel preaches to our eyes 
and other organs in baptism and the Lord's Supper, and the 



396 MECHANICAL SUBSTITUTED FOR THE SPIRITUAL. 



incarnation itself may be regarded as a gracious concession to 
the soul's strong craving after some palpable manifestation of 
the Invisible Supreme. But still, in its very genius Christi- 
anity is moral, not mechanical — spiritual, and not material. 
It ' is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and 
joy in the Holy Ghost.' However, the inveterate bias of the 
human heart is to make it meat and drink, and to put fasts 
and festivals in the place of righteousness and religious re- 
joicing. This is human nature, and this is Romanism. It 
consults man's carnality. It eases the conscience without 
changing the will. It cannot put Christ in the heart, but it 
can hang a cross round the neck or press a crucifix close to 
the bosom. It cannot make tongues of flame leap again on 
the brow of its ministers, but it can set on the head of its 
bishops a dichotomous mitre. It cannot wash the robes of 
the immortal spirit in the great expiation, but it can bleach 
the surplice white as snow. It cannot clothe its members in 
what is better than linen pure and white, — ' the righteousness 
of Christ,' but it can clothe its friars in brown serge and grey 
flannel. It cannot sprinkle the clean water of renovating 
grace on the conscience, but for sixpence a pint it can shower 
holy water on men's hands and their faces. It cannot tell 
much about J acob's ladder, nor about that living Avenue of 
access who says of Himself, ' I am the Way,' but it can tell 
how many steps of Pilate's staircase will take you to heaven ; 
and it knows which spot of the surface — whether Eome or 
Jerusalem or Loretto — is the furthest from purgatory. And 
though it dare hardly hope salvation for heretics like Leigh- 
ton and Usher and Howard, it has a sure and certain hope of 
a glorious resurrection for the drunken debauchee who in his 
stertorous convulsions could hardly swallow the viaticum, but 
who, with monks chanting masses for his soul, now sleeps in 
the odour of sanctity, and locked up from the devil's reach in 
the fire-proof safe of a consecrated burying-ground." 



CHAPTEE IX 



1851-1854. 

In order more fully to utilize his vast and various stores 
of information, he instituted and faithfully carried out a 
simple but effective system of common-place book and 
index. There is a series of books, of small superficial 
extent but considerable thickness, and firmly bound in 
leather, the size and shape being determined with a regard 
to convenience in carrying them about in railway journeys 
or strolls by the sea-shore. They are marked A, B, C, etc., 
and entitled Bibline or Book- essence. Volume A is carried 
about until it is filled ; then it is laid on the shelf and B 
takes its place. 

Never and nowhere does he write an abstract of any 
book or portion of a book. The entries are mainly of two 
kinds — either, first, a mere reference to a fact or argument, 
with the volume and page of the book in which it is found ; 
or, second, the fact, or argument, or illustration copied 
verbatim with a reference to the author and the page. 
In determining whether of these two methods should be 
followed in any given case, he was guided by one or both 
of these two circumstances, viz., whether the authority 
were permanently within his reach, and whether the por- 



398 



COMMON-PLACE BOOK AND INDEX. 



tion were short or long. If he could lay his hand on the 
book at any time, and especially if the statement which 
interested him was of considerable extent, he contented 
himself with a heading to indicate the theme, and a refer- 
ence to its place. If, on the other hand, the book could 
not be easily obtained, and especially if the coveted morsel 
was small, it was inserted bodily, duly flanked with in- 
verted commas, and authenticated by its author's name. 

As a specimen of the former class, take a few references 
to facts in Livingstone's Zambesi : — 



" Plants begin to bud before rain or dew, .... 48 

Man sells himself for three pieces of cloth, buys a man, woman, 

and child, and has one piece left, ..... 49 

Negro love of trade, . . . . . . . . 50 

Water rises a foot : that Englishman is doing something to the river, 63 

Holiness, .......... 64 

Birds of song congregate round villages, .... 65 

Work preventive of fever, . . . . . . . 72 

Female mosquitoes the only biters, ..... 96 

Take it leisurely, 179 



Continuance in well-doing alone secures continual respect, . 180' 

This goes on through the whole volume. The next book 
he happens to read is treated in the same way. Through 
a certain natural taste, cultivated and strengthened by 
long practice, he fastens on everything that suits his pur- 
pose in every book he reads, as a bee sucks all the honey 
that any flower happens to contain, and then flies off to 
the next. Thus the labour of much reading is not lost. 
The book goes out of sight, but the Bibline remains in the 
reader's possession. 

One larger book is employed as an alphabetical index to 
make these miscellaneous stores easily available. For each 



SPECIMEN ENTRY — MEMORY. 



399 



subject contained in the day-books a distinctive title is 
contrived : this is inserted in the index under its appro- 
priate letter, and all the entries connected with that 
subject, scattered over the whole series of volumes, grouped 
together there. 

For example, you open the Index at the middle of letter 
M, and you find the heading memory in large characters 
at the top of the broad margin, and the page filled with 
various references, thus — 

" Mimory. — Galaffi in Colchester's (Abbot) Diary, Genoa, 1819. Pick 
on means of improving, (Trubner). De Quincey in Trench's illus- 
trations, 143. Curious creation of, Ad. Clark's Life, 9. Morbid, 
Winslow, Life of Lawson, 127, 235. Failure, Brydone in Life of 
Scott, 10, 110. Scott's own, 10, 210. Dug. Stewart, Jeffrey, D 51. 
Clarifying power of, D 50. Tricks of, A 10. A. Hallam'swant 
of, N. Brit. Review, 14, 495. Of languages ; the man who knew the 
greatest number of dialects, Elder Adelung, Athenm. Jan. 17, /63, 
p. 94. Bad, Le Sage, Disraeli's Lit. Char. 120. Bentley's, not good, 
Hallam, 4, 12. Optima Memorise ars est penitus intelligere, 
Erasm. op. i. 512. Augustini Confess, lib. 10. Feats of, Jordan's 
Vie de M. La Croze, p. 225. Amst. 1741. Muretus Variae Lec- 
tiones, lib. in. cap. I. 31. 1586. Joseph Scaliger and others, Sir 
W. Hamilton's Lectures, n. 208, 224, 222. Life of Mezzofanti 
(Dr. Rossi), 32. Aided by Method, Lettsom's Life, 17, 148, n. 53. 

Ode to, Tennyson, 26. 

Rogers, Pleasures of. 

Addison Alexander's Scrap Book. 

Softening and exaggerating power of, Wordsworth, v. 82. 
Rapidity of Recollection, Leif child's Tracts, 215. Scratching 
back of head in order to remember, Jackson, 3, 378." 

Turning, as directed, to vol. D, p. 51, we find — 

" Failure of Memory. — Lord Jeffrey told Professor Miller that his plan 
was to prepare his speeches, not writing them, for his penmanship 
made writing irksome to him, and he could not dictate. But he com- 
posed and arranged in so many mental compartments what he meant 



400 THE METHOD DEVELOPED GRADUALLY. 



to say. In preparing for his first speech in Parliament, he was more 
than usually careful, and had grouped his materials in four divisions. 
" I got on quite well with the first and the second ; but when I had 
done with them, behold no third was forthcoming. Of course I had 
to scramble into number four as well as I could, but by this time the 
speech was ruined. Of course, the moment I sat down the truant 
came slipping back into my mind, and was entirely at my service." 

At D 50 the insertion is — 

" Clarifying power of memory — 
' Was Ich sah und hbrte 

Selten fuhlt Ich, was es war, 
Solang der Eindruck die Besinnung storte ; 

In der Erinn'rung ward nur's Klar.' — Ruckert." 

The plan was not complete at the first ; it was matured 
by degrees. In the first volume, " begun, Brighton, 5th 
September, 1845; finished at 28 Stafford Street, Edinburgh, 
30th May 1850," the material is inserted under distinct 
heads and at different places. The four divisions are — 
Extracts from borrowed books ; Eeferences to books in my 
own possession ; Projects ; and Sources of illustration. 

In the second volume the scheme is one degree more 
fully developed. There is no division of the subjects now, 
according to their kind ; they follow each other as they 
arise in the order of time, with absolutely no regard to 
their nature. To make the miscellaneous mass available, 
a few pages at the end are reserved for a brief and im- 
perfect index. As the materials accumulated, the neces- 
sity for a more perfect organization became apparent. In 
the third volume, accordingly, "Book-Essence, Bundle III," 
introduced by a motto from Sir J. Davies — 

"Skill comes so slow, and life so fast doth fly ; 
We learn so little, and forget so much " — 

there is neither a classification of subjects nor a final index. 



CARVING- OUT WORK. 



401 



The index for these volumes and all their successors is be- 
gun on a larger scale, and transferred to a separate book. 
Henceforth the Day-book, and the Ledger that makes it 
available, proceed pari passu with the utmost exactness 
and regularity to the close. Xor did this labour cease 
until the powers of nature finally gave way. The sixth 
and last volume, begun in August 1S66, deals with books 
that were published that year, and stops abruptly in the 
middle. 

In the first volume, where the subjects are to some 
extent classified, a small but very interesting group occurs, 
under the head of "Projects :" — ■ 

" A book of parables. 

" Tlie manse and the minister of the old Scottish time. 
"The knight vaulting over the sea-cliff. 
" The bundle of myrrh, or truth as it is in Jesus. 
" The manifesto of Messiah the Prince, — Sermon on the Mount. 
" The Mount of Olives, — some thoughts on prayer. 
" A little book to induce people to read the Bible -with interest 
and expectation. 

" A short system of personal theology in little volumes — 1. Evi- 
dences ; 2. The Gospel; 3. Essential Christianity, as opposed to Church 
systems." 

The list extends much further. Let these suffice as 
specimens. Those who are acquainted with his works 
will observe that several of these conceptions were happily 
realized ; the greater number, however, remain as con- 
ceptions and aims only. He had always a multitude of 
objects lying in perspective before his view drawing him 
forward. Although he had survived in possession of all 
his faculties to fourscore, he would still have been only in 
the middle of his work. He was never done. Before one 

2 c 



402 THE LATEST SELECTIONS OF BIBLINE. 



design was executed, two were projected. The longer 
lie lived, therefore, the more he left undone when he was 
called away. 

The fifth volume bears that it was begun at 48 Euston 
Square, in October 1862, and finished in the British 
Museum, in July 1866. Turning to the end, curious to 
learn what he may have inserted in his Day-book while 
he sat at the table in that great repository of knowledge, 
with many seekers, each following his own bent, sitting 
silent near him, we find these miscellaneous jottings, all 
bearing on his life-work : — 

" Obsolete controversies, like Martello towers a hundred miles 
inland — frigates rotten on the stocks. 

"Hasten the time when every heart shall be an altar, and every 
man a living temple, — when every sinner shall have found a Saviour, 
and, in a world wherein dwelleth righteousness, that Saviour shall 
have found His recompense. 

" Mind and its mysteries. "Would be very nice if we could put a 
mind under a bell-glass as we do a bee-hive, and watch the coming 
and going of fancies, and the laying up of thoughts, — sweet fancies 
gathered from flowers of fact in memory's cells. 

" Impatience of the profound. Wish a sea, transparent to the 
bottom. 

" Outside observers or surface people. 1 A primrose by a river's 
brim' does not tell a tale of a thousand springs. 

" Sun has been forming heat and awaking motion. 
" A mind many-flavoured (pine -apple). 

" Send forth Thy light this day to guide us. May good be done, 
may truth be spoken, our neighbours benefited, God glorified." 

The last entry of the last volume, written not long 
before his final illness, is a short poem by W. Alexander. 

"J. S. 

" Oh, Counsellor ! four thousand years 
One question tremulous with tears, 
One awful question vexed our fears. 



USE OF HIS LITERARY HOARDS. 



403 



They asked the vault, but no one spoke. 
They asked the depth, no answer woke. 
They asked their heart — that only broke. 

They looked, and sometimes on the height 
Far off they saw a haze of white, 
That was a storm, but looked like light. 

The secret of the years is read, 
The enigma of the quick and dead 
By the child-voice interpreted. 

Oh, everlasting Father, God ! 

Sun after sun went down, and trod 

Race after race the earth's green sod, 

Till generations seemed to be 

But dead waves of an endless sea — 

But dead leaves from a deathless tree. 

But Thou hast come, and now we know 
Each wave hath an eternal flow, 
Each leaf a lifetime after snow." 

In this manner an immense and varied store of mate- 
rials has been accumulated, classified, and labelled, so as 
to be easily found when wanted. I understand he was 
in the habit of frequently referring to these reposi- 
tories for materials during the progress of his com- 
positions. The volumes of Bibline were always kept 
at hand for reference while he was at work. But 
even though he had less directly or less frequently re- 
ferred to these repositories, this would not prove that 
his labour was lost in compiling them. It would rather 
prove that he had reaped the richest fruit from his 
labour. The process of recording and arranging every- 
thing that seemed instructive, either in his reading or 
his observation, tended to give him fuller and more 
permanent possession of the facts and thoughts. Thus, 



404 



DODDRIDGE AND WATTS. 



when the same conceptions were afterwards needed, they 
flowed from his mind all the more readily that they had 
been written in the hook, and flowed in combination with 
other facts and thoughts obtained from other sources 
— the whole tinged by his own peculiar genius, and 
emerging to all intents the new creations of his own mind. 
No man made more use of what others had written, and 
yet no writer of his day was more thoroughly independent 
and original. So intense, indeed, was the idiosyncracy 
of his thought and style, that what he wrote anonymously 
was recognised as well as what he wrote over his own 
name. He did not possess the faculty either of adopting 
other people's methods, or of concealing his own. 

" 42 Gower Street, Jan. 8, 1851. 

"My deae William, — . . . Last week I sent your 
friend Fraser an article for the North British on Dod- 
dridge. It will fill two sheets of that respectable periodi- 
cal, and took three days of my time, and was a tax on my 
weary brains." 

This paper was greatly appreciated. At a subsequent 
date, the editor, Professor Fraser, writes, " Isaac "Watts is 
still on my list of promises ; will you enable me without 
delay to transfer it to the list of performances ? When 
I remember the happiness so many readers derived from 
Doddridge, I long to see the North British the instrument 
of communicating not less happiness in connexion with 
the name of Watts." 



THE PLACE OF HIS " FATHEKS' SEPULCHRES/' 405 



TO ME. JAMES WATSON. 
" Stoneetouse, by Hamilton, Feb. 21, 1851. 

" My deae Feiend, — It occurs to me that the best plan 
will be to print our Bibliographical preface last, and keep 
for it all our phizzical and other illustrations. In the 
meanwhile, I send matter enough to set the printer agoing ; 
to-morrow I may send the third lecture {Royal Preacher). 
No printing better answers my idea than just such a page 
of type as these ' Young Men's Lectures/ and, as you say, 
quite severe, at least quite simple. 

" I have seldom been so much touched by the death of 
an unknown friend as my kind friend Mr. Westley. I 
was looking forward to visit his premises as soon as any 
friend was with us on whom such a sight would be well 
bestowed; and the cordial greeting and some occasional 
intercourse were among the joys for which I hoped this 
summer. And I feel it not a little affecting that I and 
mine should have been among the last objects of his far- 
reaching kindness. Nor do I forget, my dear Mr. Watson, 
that all this gratification, actual and prospective, was just 
one particular under the general head of a most extensive 
and fruitful friendship." 

" Storehouse, Feb. 21, 1851. 

"My deae Annie, — To-day I- went and stood in the 
sunshine at the grave of Christina, and looked down on 
that emblem of life, the Avon, ' bright and loud, and speed- 
ing to the sea.' And when I read on my grandfather's 
tombstone, 'Born at Milnholm, Jan. 12, 1738; died at 
Longridge, Jan. 8, 1822 ;' I wondered if a fifth generation 
would ever stand at the grave of another James Hamilton 



406 THE SCHOOL AT STONEHOUSE. 



in the year 1927, and think — How curious ! if my grand- 
father had been still alive, he would have been 113 years 
old! Perhaps before that time death himself shall die. 
Last night Uncle John, James Walker, and three of the 
Bogside cousins took tea with us ; so that I have seen 
them without the fatigue of a pilgrimage through these 
impenetrable roads. Uncle Thomas's school is a splendid 
place. They have got a very purpose-like teacher, and he 
has already more pupils than he can easily manage." 

A noble school in the village of Stonehouse, the con- 
tribution of Mr. Thomas Hamilton, of London, to the 
education of his native parish. 

"Stonehouse, Feb. 21, 1851. 
" My dear Andrew, — Dr. Candlish has gone to London 
to give one of the Exeter Hall Lectures to Young Men 
('Inspiration' is his subject), and in fulfilment of an old 
promise he takes Eegent Square for two Sabbaths and I 
take Free St. George's. This has given me three pleasant 
days at Stonehouse. Mamma I find quite as well as I 
could have hoped. Her faculty of locomotion is not great, 
and her spirits are somewhat abated, but otherwise she is 
much as she used to be. For Uncle Thomas's school they 
have got Mr. Arthur, a purposelike and popular teacher. 
In the day-school there are about 100 scholars, and as 
many more at night ; and as manners as well as morals 
will be added to the usual curriculum, it promises to be a 
great boon to the neighbourhood. Very touching it was 
to look down on life's emblem far below, the bright-flash- 
ing and noisy Avon, hasting to the sea, and then to mark 



HUMBOLDT — LORD COCKBTTRN. 407 



the gable of the parish church, old and ruinous, like a 
paralytic preacher trying to speak of the world to come, 
but speaking more distinctly of human frailty. . . . 

" I do not wonder at your elation in making Humboldt's 
acquaintance. But as you are not a naturalist, it would 
have been better bestowed on me. I could have talked 
(at least listened) about intertropical vegetation and cor- 
puscular life at the equator, and you would be more at 
home with Baron Grimm and his Mdhrchen (rightly 
spelled ?) It is a grand thing to have seen the old Baron. 
You should write down the ipsissima verba of his con- 
versation." 

TO HIS WIFE. 

" 4 S. Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, 
Feb. 22, 1851. 

" One of my visits was to Lord Cockburn, Mrs. Stewart's 
father. He met me on the stair and said, ' Are you 
James Hamilton ? The footman said something about a 
doctor. Here, my dear, let me introduce you to Cardinal 
Wiseman ! ' 

" Well, my loved one, by the time you get this, half of 
the time will be past. We shall have a great deal to say 
when we meet. More love we cannot feel when together 
than when apart. Very sweet has been that fountain of 
joy in the desert which yourself and your affection have 
opened for me, my Annie. May we drink together at the 
river of pleasure on high, and by growing holiness and 
love to our dear Bedeemer, may we be growing in meet- 
ness for that crowning joy." 



408 



THE DEATH OF SIR JOHN PIRIE. 



" 4 S. Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, 
March 1, 1851. 

" My dear Lady Pirie, — The tidings have arrived for 
which your friends were perhaps better prepared than 
yourself, whose affection up to the latest would be hoping 
against hope. When on yesterday fortnight I left your 
house with my present journey in prospect, it was with 
very faint expectation of ever seeing Sir John in the body 
until the consummation of all things. And now that 
these long weeks of exhaustion and dying strife are over, 
amidst all the grief for the public and private loss, it 
becomes me to give thanks to Him who hath abolished 
death, and through whose great sacrifice we fervently 
trust that our departed friend has exchanged a bed of 
suffering for the society of spirits made perfect. For Sir 
John I always felt the deepest respect and affection, and 
I had good reason. "Not only was he a citizen of the 
highest standing, but all his influence was exerted for 
patriotic and Christian ends. And personally I was much 
beholden to him. Knowing how beset he was with appli- 
cations of all sorts, I endeavoured to tax his kindness as 
little as I could ; but I never applied to him on behalf of 
any one but his good offices were instantly exerted with a 
cheerfulness and heartiness which made me doubly his 
debtor. From what I have been cognisant of in this way, 
I am sure that no one can reckon the number of young 
men who owe their advancement in life to his generous 
friendliness. And you also know how impossible it is to 
sum up the amount of his charities. Nor can I ever for- 
get the uniform kindness and courtesy of these nine years 



" FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS." 409 



that I have "been favoured with his friendship. And now 
that all his worth and integrity and public spirit have 
passed away from this world, in common with numbers 
more, I shall never cease to cherish his memory. What 
you have lost, you yourself fully know, or rather, I should 
say, He knows who alone can fill the void. You will, 
I am fully assured, find Him a present help and all-suffi- 
cient Comforter. And to His grace commending you, 
I remain, dear Lady Pirie, affectionately and gratefully 
yours, James Hamilton." 

"42 Go wee, Street, 
Sabbath Evening, March 9, 1851. 

"No lot is more favoured than mine. A slight sore 
throat, disabling me for preaching this evening (the first 
time this winter) gives me time to think of my mercies. 

" My dear wife and our two little children, our com- 
modious house and a large library, my mother and brothers 
still spared, our nearness to St. John's Wood, Uncle 
Thomas and many friends, freedom from debt, ability to 
preach every Sabbath for a year, the church full, the 
members more numerous than ever, are among the out- 
ward mercies. 

" Then of such as are spiritual. To me God says, ' This 
is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased : hear 
him;' and I think I am well pleased with the Son of 
God. I think there is no voice I like so well to hear, nor 
any name which I would so desire to spread. To me 
Jesus says ' Come unto me,' and I hope that I have gone. 
In my own languid way I trust that I am often going to 
Him. To those that believe He is precious, and surely He 



410 SERMON IN ST. GEORGE^, EDINBURGH. 

is precious to me. I speak of Him little, and I seldom 
feel those rapturous emotions towards Him with which 
the bosoms of better disciples burn ; but surely He is in 
a true sense my Alpha and Omega. Without Him my 
life would have neither meaning nor motive. I love lite- 
rature and the natural sciences, and I love our Free 
Church ; but I would have no heart to extend that Church 
if I did not think that it is the cause of Christ, and I 
would have no true zest in books and study if I could not 
lay their products at the Saviour's feet. Though in a very 
faint and inferior sense, may I not hope that ' for me to 
live is Christ and if I am right in the premiss, if Christ 
is mine, then all things are mine. 

" On Thursday se'nnight I preached a sermon in Free 
St. George's on behalf of ' the Shelter/ When it was 
over, in the vestry Dr. Smyttan said, ' Let me introduce 
you to a namesake — another James Hamilton.' So I 
shook hands with Mr. Hamilton of Mnevar, who was 
counting the collection, and marked his fresh hale aspect, 
so promising of years to come. But in a few minutes 
after he was carried home apoplectic, and never more was 
conscious, till he died on Sabbath morning. He was a 
pious man, and it is pleasant to think that his last em- 
ployment was a labour of love. To me it was very 
solemn, — the identity of the name and the fact that a 
sermon of mine was the last he ever should hear. It is 
remarkable too that I should never have spoken to him 
till that hour, and very likely I was the last person with 
whom he shook hands." 



LADY VERNE Y. 



411 



A note from a Christian foreigner sojourning in London 
serves to throw a cross-light on the useful life of the 
minister and author : — 

FROM C. SCHONBERG. 

"9 Barnard's Inn, Holborn, March 25, 1851. 
" Eeverend Sir, — Let me beg of you kindly to accept a 
copy of our Moravian Hymns, and to receive at the same 
time the renewal of my best thanks for the precious gift 
of your writings, which I shall read over and over again, 
prizing them very much. The prayer and conversation I 
enjoyed in your house was like a brook by the way to the 
refreshment of my soul. This winter, which I have spent 
in London, has proved to me a spring-time productive of 
many germs and blossoms, and deeply implanted in my 
memory is your acquaintance and your writings, which by 
a gracious Providence I have been permitted to meet with. 
May our Lord, through His love and life-giving power, 
grant to you long to continue an instrument of great and 
rare benefits to your fellow-pilgrims. — I remain, reverend 
sir, faithfully yours, C. Schonberg." 

FROM LADY VERNEY. 

"4 Hesketh Crescent, Torquay, June 12, 1851. 
" Dear Dr. Hamilton, — ... As I have been prowl- 
ing among the rock pools, investigating their wonders, and 
making acquaintance with their inhabitants, I have had 
continually in mind your comparison of them to the 
various religious denominations whom the rising tide of 
love and truth is sooner or later to merge into one. I am 



412 



WOEDS FOE THE WEAEY. 



delighted to hear that so distinguished a fish as Merle 
d'Aubigne' found his way into the little episcopal pool in 
Woburn Chapel. I hope he may have stirred the water 
there to much purpose. — Believe me, yours most truly and 
obliged, Eliza Verney." 

FROM ME. . 

" June 18, 1851. 

" . . . I am glad that you retain, dear Sir, amidst your 
arduous stated exertions, all that elasticity of mind which 
enables you to produce 'things new and old,' in such 
large variety and with such affluence of manifold illustra- 
tion. Glad, because this is always so conducive to attrac- 
tion by impression, and more, I should think, in our own 
than in any former age. I feel more than ever the value 
of intellectual vigour and imaginative resources in recom- 
mending great truths, as the close approach, not to say 
arrival, of old age makes me acquainted with the declen- 
sion of such powers and advantages. I have, indeed, been 
indulged with a full year of exemption from depression, a 
most unusual period with me, and calling for my deepest 
gratitude ; but at present I have some symptoms of that 
cloud which has so often overshadowed me, and, to use 
your own words, ' it is not easy to muster up a smile.' — I 
am, my dear Sir, yours most truly." 

I confess I have sometimes been provoked by hearing 
good people whose range of ideas was limited, and whose 
sensibilities were not very tender, criticising severely the 
methods of James Hamilton as a preacher and a writer. 



SIR GEORGE SINCLAIR. 



413 



He was too poetical — lie gave fancies instead of the solid, 
searching truth. Little did they know — they were incap- 
able of comprehending — how the gospel found its way on 
the wings of his bright imagination into hearts that needed 
its consolations, but were closed against the entrance of 
coarser forms. This gentleman's note serves to show that 
in his " diversities of operation" the Lord finds a use for 
every talent he has bestowed and sanctified. The feet 
and the hands are very useful in the mystic body ; but 
let them beware of despising the 'seeing eyes and the 
hearing ear. 

FKOM SIR GEORGE SINCLAIR. 

" Thurso Castle, Sth July 1851. 
" My dear Friend, — I cannot find it in my heart to 
employ a less familiar designation when addressing the 
son of a father for whom I cherished so sincere a regard, 
and the biographer of a sister (Lady Colquhoun) to whom 
I was so tenderly attached, to say nothing of his personal 
claims on my affectionate esteem, as a devoted minister 
and an accomplished scholar. Your letter was read in the 
same spirit in which it was written — I of course mean 
that of kindness and satisfaction. The painful conflict 
which preceded my solitary disruption 1 has terminated in 
procuring for me a security and spirituality of mind to 
which I had for a long time been in a great measure a 
stranger. It is delightful to find myself once more asso- 
ciated in the bonds of holy fellowship with the men whom 
I most love and revere, and whose cause and Church I 

1 He did not abandon the Establishment with the body of the Free Church 
in 1S43, but followed on fuller conviction at a later date. 



414 



" THE ROYAL PREACHER." 



believe to be identified with the Church and cause of Christ 
I am (not proud, but) humbled, when I contrast the cordial 
gratulations which I have received from many dear and 
much respected well-wishers with my own claims upon 
their sympathy and good-will. At my age, and in my 
state of suffering and infirmity, I can do little (oh, how 
much too little !) in furtherance of these great principles, to 
which we both attach so much importance, but I will do 
what I can whilst I can, and not forget that to each of us 
the night cometh when no man can work. I am exceed- 
ingly indebted to you for the very kind and valuable 
present by which your letter was accompanied, of which I 
have just read enough to convince me how much pleasure 
and instruction I shall receive from a reiterated and atten- 
tive perusal of the whole. I am astonished at the pro- 
found research and multiform erudition displayed in the 
introduction, as well as by the apposite illustrations and 
cogent appeals both to the heart and conscience con- 
tained in the lectures themselves (on Ecclesiastes — The 
Royal Preacher). . . . — Believe me ever to remain, with 
much esteem and regard, most faithfully yours, 

" George Sinclair." 

to mr. arnot. 

"42 Gower Street, July 19, 1851. 

" My dear Friend, — Now that three weeks are past, I 
can venture to write to the reviewer of The Royal Preacher. 
Had I written sooner I should have disclaimed half the 
praise of that pleasant eulogy ; and though my self-love 
has not yet so enlarged its capacity as to swallow the 



DEATH OF MR. WILLIAM HAMILTON. 415 



whole, yet I have found out a use for it all. I say to my- 
self, ' That dear kind Arnot knows what I would like to 
do, and in his friendliness he thinks I have already done 
it. He is very shrewd withal, and likely he sees better 
than myself what I might do, and he speaks of it as un 
fait accompli. So I must look on this article as a plan or 
portrait of what I ought to be, and take it as J. H.'s vade- 
mecum in search of himself.' Indeed, I deeply feel how 
short I come of what your partiality would represent ; but 
still the qualities which you ascribe to me are exactly 
those which I - would like to have, and the warmth of 
brotherly kindness which inspired that paper brought the 
tears into my eyes. J. H." 

On the 2d of August this year the minister and congre- 
gation of Eegent Square suffered an irreparable loss in the 
death of Mr. William Hamilton. Through the gravity of 
his character, and the wisdom of his counsels, and the 
Christian meekness of his spirit, he had been a pillar in 
the church from its origin ; and the survivors, accustomed 
to lean on his judgment, felt as a family bereaved by his 
removal. The minister loved and revered him as a father ; 
and the esteem in which his judgment was held may in 
some degree be measured by the number of letters ad- 
dressed to him on all the graver questions, whether con- 
gregational or general, as they emerged. One of the 
"projects" which Dr. Hamilton long cherished was to 
write a triple biography — memoirs of William Hamilton, 
James Nisbet, and Sir John Pirie, as characteristic speci- 
mens of the Christian merchant, differing much from each 



416 TEUE HISTOEY OF THE CHUECH. 



other, yet all conspiring as constituent expressions to form 
an epistle of Christ. He published some notices of Mr. 
Hamilton's life and character in a sermon preached on the 
occasion of his death, but the larger purpose was never 
executed. 

"October 1851. 

" The kindness of Mr. M'Gregor of the Queen's Hotel 
(Glasgow) is much to be remembered. After faring 
sumptuously for two days and a night, he would suffer us 
to pay nothing, and put it all to the credit of Life in 

Earnest!' 

"London, Feb. 26, 1852. 
" My dear William, — . . . My reading at present lies 
chiefly in the direction of Church History. I have a great 
hankering to write the true Acta Sanctorum, — the story 
of all the heroic and beautiful deeds which have been im- 
pelled by love to the Saviour. But for a history of the 
political corporations called Churches, I have little turn ; 
and from the bulky compilations all round me, it is hard 
work segregating the materials of a truly Christian history. 
I would do it first of all in the way of popular lectures — 
say a dozen each winter ; and these might afterwards be 
either published in lecture form or re -digested in chapters. 
The vision is pleasant for the moment, and gives some 
vigour to my reading." 

Failing health again compelled resource to a German 
watering-place. 

"Wii/dbad, Wurtembeeg, July 26, 1852. 

"My dear William, — Last week Annie wrote you a 



RECRUITING AT WILDBAD. 



417 



letter, but on reading it over I thought it gave such a sad 
representation of my health that I almost prevented her 
from sending it. The truth is, that I know of little the 
matter with myself ; the only thing visible being a little 
heat upon my hands, which comes and goes, and is occa- 
sioned by a too acid tendency of the stomach. But though 
there is little visible, no doubt there is something latent. 
From what they tell me, and from what I feel, I believe I 
have over-taxed my powers, and now experience a tem- 
porary exhaustion. I am conscious, too, of a more irritable 
state of the nervous system, originating in the same source. 
This travelling is, I quite believe, the best remedy, and if 
you saw me at taMe-d'hdte, or chmbing such hills as we 
crossed last week, you would think me a very enviable 
invalid. They have provided supply for Eegent Square 
till the end of August, and by that time I fondly hope to 
be able for my work, and by a strict avoidance of extrinsic 
engagements, perhaps may do more justice to the congre- 
gation and myself than ever. My chest, I may just add, 
has felt sounder, for the last four months, than I have 
known it during the last six years." 

" Nov. 12, 1852. 

" I wish I could take to, and delight in, goodness apart 
from and despite of everything else. . . . Alas ! I esteem 
but do not enjoy him in private. I suppose it is on some 
such principle as prevents me liking carrots and other 
esculents which do not suit my idiosyncracy, but which 
nevertheless contain a great deal of nutriment. It would 
be a healthier state to be less eclectic." 

2 D 



418 



" THE WAY HOME." 



Early in March 1853 a great calamity befell the 
family of one of Dr. Hamilton's dearest friends, George 
Barbour, Esq. of Bonskeid. With his wife and children 
and servants he was approaching Manchester, by Bolton, 
in the train after dark, when the carriages ran off the 
rails, and a very great disaster ensued. Mr. Barbour's 
two bright little boys were killed, with the nurse, and 
himself and Mrs. Barbour much injured. 1 The driver of 
the engine, who had run the train over rotten sleepers at 
the rate of sixty miles an hour, was convicted of culpable 
homicide. The public mind was much stirred by the 
event, and many families were smitten with a life-long 
grief. 

Tenderly associated with Mr. Barbour as his chief coad- 
jutor in the conduct of the China Mission, Dr. Hamilton 
entered in spirit into the sorrow that had come upon his 
house, but could not in the first instance communicate 
directly either with him or with Mrs. Barbour, on account 
of their suffering from the accident. In these circum- 
stances he addressed himself to Mr. Barbour's brother, 
Bobert Barbour, Esq., of Bolesworth Castle : — 

TO R. BARBOUR, ESQ., MANCHESTER. 

" London, March 9, ] 853. 
" My dear Sir, — For the last three days your dear 
brother and his wife and yourselves have been more in 
my thoughts than all other things ; and although in such 

1 An account of this great bereavement, under the title, The Way Home, 
written by the sorrowing, yet rejoicing, mother of the children, was printed 
— first privately, and afterwards published; one of the most affecting and 
instructive narratives of our day. 



SYMPATHY WITH THE BEREAVED. 419 



a sad calamity no words can be any comfort except God's 
own, in the mere act of writing to you I find some relief 
to myself. With the great grace God had given to them, 
there were none on whom the blow could fall who could 
bear it as the beloved sufferers will. How different had 
it been some godless worldly family, whose treasure is all 
here, and whose only home is an earthly one ! Those 
happy children are safe from every peril, and, introduced 
by the Saviour himself, are now beholding the face of His 
Father. What accomplished scholars, what lovely cha- 
racters they will be when their parents see them again ! 
And our dear blessed friends themselves, though we 
tremble at the desolate scene which awaits them on this 
side, and though we would be apt to think that they did 
not need so sore a trial, assuredly for them there is some 
deep and peculiar blessing buried in this dark cloud. And 
I am sure the dispensation is and will be sanctified to 
thousands. Many a heart has it softened, and into many 
an eye has it brought the tear of tenderness, even among 
those who did not know them. It has made them feel, 
'Why am I exempted?' And it has helped to make 
them prize much-forgotten mercies more. It is good to 
weep with those that weep, and I feel assured that never 
were more prayers offered on their behalf than just at 
this time. In the Presbytery of London, last Tuesday, the 
sufferers were especially prayed for, on the suggestion of 
Mr. Gillespie, who spoke with much feeling, and who was 
listened to with emotion, for some present had not then 
heard of the accident. — Believe me, my dear Sir, most 
truly yours, James Hamilton." 



420 



" THE LIGHT TO THE PATH." 



In the course of this summer appeared one of the most 
attractive and useful of all Dr. Hamilton's works — a series 
of essays on various aspects of the Holy Scriptures. The 
little book appeared at first under the rather unfortunate 
title, The Lamp and the Lantern ; for this, in later editions, 
was substituted, The Light to the Path. It contains many 
passages of surpassing eloquence. It is fitted to be emi- 
nently useful, and it has in point of fact been greatly 
honoured as an instrument of good. It must have been a 
singular delight to the author to receive at various periods, 
from eminent persons at home and abroad, testimonies to 
its efficacy in commending the Word of God to the world, 
and in making it more dear to those who already had 
begun to draw from it the water of life. Some of these 
testimonies will be submitted at the place which their 
dates assign to them. The first is from an eminently 
competent witness, the late Sir George Sinclair, Bart. : — 

"Thurso Castle, June 4, 1853. 
" My dear Fkiend, — I lose no time in offering my best 
acknowledgments for your most acceptable present. Any 
work of yours must be both precious and popular, — com- 
bining, as it never fails to do, research with originality of 
sentiment, terseness with truth, and piety with poetry of 
expression. You possess the happy art of rendering the 
strong meat of doctrine pleasing and palatable by the 
skilful admixture of interesting anecdote and felicitous 
illustration. I have no doubt that this seasonable publi- 
cation will do great good to the cause of Christ, whilst 
it will at the same time add largely to the fame of its 
beloved and respected author. I wish he were here to 



APPETITE FOR WORK. 



421 



talk over many of the important topics which it elucidates 
so forcibly, and which are so momentous at the present 
crisis. . . . George Sinclair." 

It was the characteristic of his mind that he must al- 
ways have a work in hand, and several in prospect. This 
constant impulse and eagerness toward work was perhaps 
the most commanding and distinguishing feature of the 
man. He was like a machine wound up and set in motion, 
which could not stop until the course of life was run. 
There have been other instances of a similar intensity and 
continuity of action; but, in most cases, these lives of 
extraordinary impetuousity have been shaded by some 
morbid irritability, or unapproachableness. In Hamilton's 
life, the two factors, of congenital talents and superadded 
grace, so balanced each other, that the prodigious impetus 
of his course never crushed a fly. Although, from the 
gravity of the mass, and the celerity of the motion, the 
momentum was vast, it remained so completely under 
control that little children, so far from dreading it, liked 
nothing so much as to cast themselves in its way. There 
have been greater minds, and there have been as cheerful 
spirits, but not often has so much of the little- child cheer- 
fulness been united to so much force. 

The next effort was Excelsior. His letter in reply to the 
suggestion of the publisher, describes pretty nearly the 
plan that wa,s ultimately adopted : — 

" 48 Euston Square, June 16, 1853. 

"My dear Mr. Watson, — The subject of our conversa- 
tion this morning has been a good deal in my thoughts 



422 



PLAN OF "EXCELSIOR." 



since it was first propounded to me ; and I feel its import- 
ance rising, and its attractions increasing. 

"To bring into existence a literature which would 
quicken the intelligence and refine the taste of young men, 
and which, with God's blessing, might strengthen their 
moral and religious principles, and help to cultivate all 
good affections, is surely as legitimate an object as the 
Young Men's Christian Association could set before itself, 
and it is one into which your house could enter with all 
its heart 

" And I think it quite practicable. With such a Maga- 
zine as you spoke of, completing itself in a three years' 
cycle, you might (besides one paper of practical Christianity, 
and some lively Scripture illustration every month) supply 
a series of articles which would be virtual introductions to 
the sciences, and summaries of history, sacred and civil ; 
glances at inventions, manufactures, etc., and the A B C of 
the fine arts. To catch the shyer fishes, you might have a 
tale ; and to keep your readers well informed on all that 
is transpiring, your idea is a good one, that each number 
should conclude with a summary of monthly memorabilia. 

" But, to give it this catholic and permanent character, 
there should be as little as possible of local or association 
intelligence. It would be better that the Association 
printed a separate fly-leaf every month, or a half- sheet 
every quarter, for its own news and notices, and stitched 
it under the cover, so as to keep, for subjects of abiding 
importance, a book which you wish to be bound up and 
consulted in future, — a sort of young man's cyclopaedia. 

" A good deal of solid and useful writing may be pro- 



YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 423 



cured ' on reasonable terms ; ' but if we invite men like 
Isaac Taylor, or Sir D. Brewster, or Archbishop Whately, 
or ladies like Mrs. Stowe and Miss Wetherell to contribute, 
we should be prepared to give them liberal remuneration. 
And, seeking not merely immediate sale, but high and 
enduring usefulness, we should (I submit) aim at a larger 
proportion of first- class contribution than the sprinkling 
allowed in most magazines. 

" Through its lectures and classes, the Association has 
already done a great deal towards the object at which this 
periodical would aim; and its highest success would be 
if it should contribute a notable impulse to the culture 
— mental, moral, and spiritual — of the rising race of our 
country. With this view, it should be made so attractive 
that no one will grudge his money for it, and those who 
cannot buy it will still be eager to read it. — Ever yours 
affectionately, James Hamilton." 

" London, July 21, 1853. 

" My dear William —To-morrow, by the days of the 
month, it will be twelve years since I was inducted to 
Eegent Square. Last Sabbath, I introduced Mr. Keedy 
at John Knox's, and I am now the grandfather of nearly 
all the Presbytery. It is curious that Dr. Gordon, who 
introduced me at Eegent Square, had all but consented to 
introduce Mr. Keedy. But twelve years have made the 
Doctor more frail. Mamma will have a lively remem- 
brance of that journey to London. I wish she could come 
up and see our new house, now that it is all straight. It 
is a delightful residence. 

" I have begun to learn Dutch, with Count de Zuyler 



424 



DINING OUT. 



for an amateur tutor. It is difficult, but I hope to conquer 
it. I allow myself only one lesson a week. 

" I am half through the Life of Haydon the artist. As 
I am fond of pictures, I am deeply interested. Its anec- 
dotes are amusing, and its flashes of genius splendid, but 
its self-consciousness and arrogance are hideous. 

"Your old friend Masson dined with me on Monday. 
On Tuesday, I dined at Tulse Hill, and baptized the little 
son of Mr. Boyd, whom mamma may possibly remember. 
Yesterday I took tea at Mrs. Hunter Blair's with Lady 
Emma Campbell, who had been calling on us last week. 
To-morrow I have two young Dutch ministers dining with 
me ; and on Saturday I dine at Guildhall, to meet her 
Majesty's Ministers. But having excellent health, and long 
forenoons, I do not feel this gaiety much of an interruption. 
Besides, I have in my head the scheme of a new magazine, 
to which I hope to make a great deal of it subservient." 

From this time forward, he took a lively interest in the 
Dutch language and literature. He made as much profi- 
ciency in his studies as enabled him to consult the theolo- 
gians and enjoy the poets of Holland. Among his many 
manuscript books one is devoted to that country, and is 
filled with facts and thoughts regarding its topography 
and commerce and history and literature. 

" Dining out " was in itself regarded rather as a thief of 
time ; but now having undertaken the charge of a magazine 
devoted to literature and art, as well as morals and religion, 
he will find a use for everything. Men and things in 
general will go to constitute grist for his mill. 



LETTER FROM AMERICA. 



425 



FROM ME. ABBOTT LAURENCE. 

" Boston, September 24, 1853. 

" My dear Dr. Hamilton, — Mrs. Laurence placed in my 
hands your very kind note of the 5th of July, with the 
little volume The Lamp and the Lantern, and a charming, 
precious volume it is. I asked the privilege of Mrs. 
Laurence to write for her, and to offer our united thanks 
for your kind remembrance of us. I wish particularly to 
thank you for the felicitous manner with which you have 
introduced the name of my good deceased brother. He 
was in truth a thorough Bible man. Mrs. Laurence in- 
forms me that she has ordered our agent in London to send 
a dozen copies of The Lamp and the Lantern. My inten- 
tion is to have the work republished here, believing it will 
promote the cause of piety and true religion. "We very 
often speak of you and Mrs. Hamilton, and I cannot omit 
the expression of our united wishes that you would pass 
your next vacation in this country. It is a small matter 
now to cross the Atlantic. I am sure you will be repaid 
for the journey. ... A. L." 

" Dec. 1853. 

" Last March we moved into this house, 48 Euston 
Square. There cannot be a more commodious residence ; 
and although the rent and taxes will absorb two-fifths of 
my stipend, its airy apartments are (in my case) almost 
essential to the prosecution of ministerial work. 

" During the year I published The Lamp and the 
Lantern and A Memoir of R. Williams. I have just cor- 
rected a new edition of The Royal Preacher. And for the 
next three years, if health is granted, my spare time will 



426 



VALUE OF TIME. 



be fully occupied in editing Excelsior, a paper through 
which I hope to give some good impulses to the rising 
race, should they be induced to read it. 

"I have preached seventy-one sermons in Eegent Square, 
of which only fifty were newly written." 

E. Williams, whose Memoir he edited, was the devoted 
medical missionary who perished in the disastrous expedi- 
tion to Patagonia. 

" London, Feb. 22, 1854. 

" My dear William, — It is a shame that I should be 
so tardy in answering your letter. The blame lies with 
Excelsior. I do not let him interfere with my mini- 
sterial work, but he makes a cut-up in my correspond- 
ence. . . . 

"I have hardly recovered yet from the sensation of 
time uselessly engulfed in entertaining a man whose arro- 
gance accepts it all as a rightful homage, and who him- 
self has no idea of time's preciousness. . . . 

" I confess, however, that I would be a better host if I 
had not such a nervous feeling about the value of time. 
There may be miserliness here as well as in regard to 
money ; and of late I fear my panic about the smallness 
of my own stock is almost morbid." 

" 48 Euston Square, London, 
March 29, 1854. 

"My dear William, — My main object in taking the 
pen this morning is to try and persuade you all to a Lon- 
don pilgrimage this season. If you could clear out a few 
weeks in April or May, so as to bring up mamma and the 



his brother's family. 



427 



children, they could remain till July or August, or later ; 
and there would be no difficulty in finding a convoy for 
them on their way homeward if you yourself could not 
return for them. Jane and William would acquire the 
English accent ! and Annie would learn to sing, — to say 
nothing of the gumption which the little cockneys would 
imbibe from their Scottish cousins. I really think the 
change would do you all good, and it would be a great 
look forward to us. . . . 

" It is now a year since I had the least interruption 
from illness, so that I have got on even better than you. 
On writing I thrive, but week- evening sermons and itiner- 
ancy have been my ruin. This is the healthiest, strong- 
est winter I have ever had. 

" Last night Annie and I were at a scientific soiree 
at a neighbour's — Dr. Gladstone's. Graham, Faraday, 
and all the chemists were there, and the cakes and ices 
were very good practical chemistry. .... 

" I hope you like Excelsior. To me it is a great source 
of enjoyment, but I would almost like to write it all my- 
self, so difficult is it to get articles made to order, — that 
is, so difficult is it to get other people just to enter into 
your own idea, and do the thing in the way you wish. 
The next number will contain some good papers, one 
by Binney, and another by Andrew's friend, Professor 
Latham. ... J. H. 



" P.S. — Pray do grant OUR request, dear mamma, and 
come and see us with William and the children. — Your 
affectionate Annie." 



428 



APPRECIATION OF DR. HAMILTON 



FROM A SOCIETY OF YOUNG LADIES IN BOSTON, U.S. 

"Rev. Dr. Hamilton. Boston, April 18, 1854. 

"Dear Sir — We have thought it might not be dis- 
pleasing to you to hear again from the little circle of 
young ladies in Boston who first addressed you about 
three years ago. Our pastor is about to sail for England, 
and as he hopes for the pleasure of forming a personal 
acquaintance with you, we venture to improve this oppor- 
tunity for sending you a letter by him. 

" We wish to thank you for the very kind letter which 
we received from you in reply to ours. It gave us all a 
great deal of pleasure, and has been read and re-read 
many times. Most of all, we thank you for the assurance 
that we had a place in your prayers. We have loved to 
think of this ; and sometimes during months that fol- 
lowed the receipt of your letter, when our meetings were 
more than usually delightful, when we felt 'our hearts 
burn within us,' and realized the presence of our Saviour, 
the remark was made as we separated, 'Perhaps Dr. 
Hamilton has been praying for us this afternoon.' We 
still continue the practice of reading some book of a 
devotional character at our meetings. We have read some 
excellent works, but the wish is often expressed that Dr. 
Hamilton would write another book for us like the Mount 
of Olives. You may like to know that it is now more 
than five years since we commenced our meetings. We 
have continued them during this time with but trifling 
interruptions. Since our first meeting there have been 
many changes in our little band. We have had both 



IN THE UNITED STATES. 



429 



additions and losses. Some have left us for new homes 
and new duties on earth, and one for a brighter, better 
home in heaven, where prayer is exchanged for endless 
praise. We know that coming years must bring many 
more changes, that soon we may all be scattered, but we 
trust we are united by ties which time and distance can- 
not break. It is our constant prayer, that the future of 
each may be guided by our Heavenly Father, and that 
we may be fitted for an eternal reunion around the throne 
of God and the Lamb. For this, may we not still ask an 
interest in your prayers ? Some of us are hoping to see 
you in England, but may we not all hope to add our wel- 
come to the many which would await you in America ? 
May our Heavenly Father long preserve your life and 
health, and as in the past so in all the future crown your 
labours with His blessing, and increase your usefulness 
more and more. 

"Commending you and your family to His loving- 
kindness, we remain, with the highest respect and esteem, 
— Your young friends, 

" Sophie L. Wateebuey. Julia E. Mabvin. 

Kate E. Wateebuey. Maey G. Paekee. 

Susan H. Keep. Abby Banceoft. 

Maetha M. Waldeon. Ellen S. S. Clabke." 

We are inclined to set a very high value on this letter, 
As cold water to a thirsty soul, this good news from a far 
country must have been singularly refreshing to the wearied 
spirit of the worker at his solitary desk in the heart of 
London. The winged words that he had sent out at 



430 



THE REAL PEACE-MAKERS. 



random on the world had alighted on a group of maidens, 
met to read and pray together on the other side of the 
Atlantic. The Mount of Olives helped them to lift their 
hearts to heaven. They opened a correspondence with 
the author ; they prayed for him, and he for them, to our 
Common Father. Here is a link that helps to bind the 
two nations together in perpetual amity. These bonds, 
and a multitude like them, we venture to affirm, main- 
tain peace between us and our great offspring in the West 
more efficiently than all the protocols of the diplomats. 
The politicians of this land did not display great wisdom 
at the crisis of the difficulty ; but the manifold Christian 
friendships that run unseen like submarine wires between 
us and the Americans, did more to prevent war than the 
prej udices and blunders of political parties to stir it up. 

The frank and affectionate testimony given by Mr. Arthur 
to the value of the Memoir of Williams ought not to be 
omitted. It is the evidence of a thoroughly competent 
witness — an eulogium honourable alike to him who bestows 
and him who receives it : — 

" Wesleyan Mission House, 
Bishopsgate Street within, London, July 23, 1 854. 

" My dear De. Hamilton, — Several times have I been 
on the point of writing a word to say how my whole heart 
thanks you for the Memoir of Williams, but the constant 
drive of work has from time to time pushed a postponable 
duty out of the way. Some of your works may circulate 
wider, but I doubt whether any will live longer. I hardly 
know whether most to admire the abstinence from much 
writing, or the effectiveness of what you have written. 



DEATH OP ME. NISBET. 



431 



I have had a good laugh out of several Methodist circles 
at your epithet, a ' Church upon wheels/ The book will 
brace up many a young missionary to hardihood such 
as he would not else have reached. . . . — Tours very 
sincerely, Wm. Arthur." 

The Session of Eegent Square, from the time of Irving's 
early days, constituted a most remarkable brotherhood in 
the heart of London. As its ranks were thinned from 
time to time they were again recruited, so that throughout 
the period of Dr. Hamilton's ministry the corporation 
maintained its vigour unimpaired. Many distinguished 
men of business have served God in connexion with it 
during the current century. As the venerated men who 
had been chiefs in trying times were successively removed, 
the survivors mourned over the bereavement like the 
members of a family. This year another stroke fell. Mr. 
Nisbet, the eminent publisher of Berners Street, was re- 
moved in a good old age. The minister preached an 
appropriate sermon on the occasion of his death. Nothing 
else could have satisfied either the yearnings of his own 
heart, or the expectations of the congregation. But a 
briefer, freer sketch of his venerable friend, written by Dr. 
Hamilton, in February 1867, a short time before his own 
decease, very happily and truly presents the leading 
features of Mr. Nisbet' s character. It was published in the 
Daily Review newspaper, on the occasion of the appear- 
ance of the Memoir of Mr. Nisbet by his son-in-law, Mr. 
Wallace. A short extract from this paper is subjoined. 1 

1 " The distinguishing feature in his character was the multiplicity of his per- 



432 



CHARACTER OF MR. NISBET. 



The sketch in its integrity presents with extraordinary 
precision the salient points in the character both of the 
minister himself, and the elder whose memory he honoured. 
Of no man but Mr. Msbet could the same thing have been 
written, and no man but Dr. Hamilton could have written 
them. 

Mr. Msbet treated Dr. Hamilton as a son, both in affec- 
tion and faithfulness. He manifested for the minister an 
untiring love, but he was nothing loath to give him such 
advice as he considered needfuL So ardently did Mr. 
Nisbet love, that he could not hold his peace when any- 
thing displeased him. They understood each other ; and 
if on the part of the senior a suggestion was never with- 
held, on the part of the junior freedom was never resented. 

sonal services. No doubt he had a good income, and with a bountiful heart 
and a liberal hand he gave great sums away ; but others have been richer, and 
their gifts correspondingly greater. But we have never known any one in 
labours of love so abundant, so ubiquitous and untiring. Never giving his 
sympathy where he did not also give money ; he never gave either where he 
did not withal give time and trouble. An attentive^ affectionate hearer of the 
Word, he was pre-eminently a doer of the work. With no distracting tastes, 
no passion for art, no turn for books, no hankering after holidays, and with an 
establishment which he had taught in some degree to take care of itself, most 
of his time was available for the business of beneficence, and to that business 
right joyfully did he give it. Blessed with habitual health, sanguine, inven- 
tive, aggressive, no one could complain that in cutting out work for others he 
shirked his own ; and it would be no exaggeration to say that, during the last 
forty years of his life, there was rarely a leisure hour which was not given 
either to social worship or the service of philanthropy. In the morning you 
met him climbing Haverstock Hill to an Orphan School Committee ; at noon, 
if you found him on his own premises, instead of authors and printers, his 
levee consisted of wanderers from Scotland, and waifs from all the world, 
worn-out craftsmen in quest of pensions, and foreign pastors seeking British 
aid ; later in the day, if you stepped into a ward of Middlesex Hospital, or 
stumbled into a cellar of his congregational district, you might hear the tender 
tones of his voice praying beside the sick man's bed ; and the evening would 
conclude with a fatherly visit to some young men's society or a missionary 
jubilation in Exeter Hall." 



THE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. 433 



A series of letters from Governor Briggs of Massachusetts, 
and Mr. Amos Laurence of Boston, has come into the editor's 
hands a little after date ; but as the letters are equally intel- 
ligible and valuable at any place, they are here submitted 
entire. They serve to show what estimate was formed of Dr. 
Hamilton's works by Christian men of highest station and 
highest worth in the United States. They betray a fondness 
of friendship which is in these days very refreshing. May the 
kind words of those eminent men awaken kind echoes in 
many British hearts : — 

GOVERNOR BRIGGS TO MR. AMOS LAURENCE. 

"Pittsfield, July 16, 1849. 

" My dear Friend, — The dozen copies of Life in Earnest 
came safely to hand three days since. I thank you for send- 
ing them, and assure you they shall be distributed where 
they will, I hope, do good. Never did a book bear a more 
appropriate title. Next to the Book of books, I never read 
one with more pleasure or interest. Its author must have 
possessed a large measure of the spirit of the Bible to have so 
happily and so forcibly addressed himself to all classes of men. 
The serious Christian and the thoughtless worldling ; the 
man of industry and the man standing 4 all the day idle age 
and youth are all alike fitly addressed. 

" For the pleasure, and I hope for the benefit I have re- 
ceived in reading and re-reading this precious little volume, I 
sincerely thank the author. I should be most happy to know 
him, and shake his hand, for I am sure his hand belongs to a 
right heart. Though I have no reason to expect that plea- 
sure here, I hope to meet him in the bright and happy pre- 
sence of that Divine Master in whose name he has spoken so 
well. — Truly your friend, Geo. N. Briggs." 

MR. AMOS LAURENCE TO DR. HAMILTON. 

" To Rev. James Hamilton, of the National Scotch 
Church, Regent Square, London. 

"Boston, Mass., U.S., July 18, 1849. 
" Sir, — The few lines on the other side are from our ex- 
cellent Governor of the State, whose good word may be grate- 

2 E 



434 



LETTER FROM MR. AMOS LAURENCE. 



ful to you, coming as it will from a Christian brother across 
the Atlantic. If it should ever happen you to visit this 
country, I need not say how great the pleasure would be to 
see you. I 'm a 4 minute man,' living by the day and by the 
ounce, not having sat at table with my family for a dozen 
years or more, and weigh my food, which is the most simple, 
and with a keen appetite when I leave off, have learnt the 
true Epicurean living ; yet with this frail body I am compen- 
sated for all privations, by enjoying such treats as Life in 
Earnest in a way that few are allowed. I have cleared out 
the Sabbath School depository three times in the last four 
weeks, and have scattered the work broad-cast, and intend to 
do so, if my health allows. Among the persons I have given 
a copy to my younger brother, who is soon to be with you in 
England as minister to your Court. I commend him to your 
prayers and to your confidence, for he is a true man. I hope 
this may be handed to you by my youngest brother, who will 
probably be in London after this reaches him. His wife is 
with him, and is a true daughter of Scotch ancestors. Old 
Dr. Nesbit was her grandfather, and her family feel an interest 
in everything from the ' old home.' With great respect for 
your character, I am, Sir, your admirer, 

" Amos Laurence." 

Additional. 

"March 14, 1850. 
" This letter reached my brother Samuel in a fortnight in 
Germany. On his return to London he called at your house, 
but had laid the letter away so carefully that he could not 
find it, and never saw it again until this morning, when he 
found it while arranging papers in his new home in this city. 
I regret his not finding you at home, but it may only be an 
increased motive for you to come and see us. I will promise 
you as hearty and joyous a welcome as you would receive 
among your own people, we are all so deeply interested in 
reading your Memoir of Lady Colquhoun ; and personally I 
am no less interested in reading your lecture on ' The Literary 
Attractions of the Bible,' delivered in November, and I have 
sent the copy (which my good sister, Mrs. Abbott Laurence, 



AMERICAN ESTIMATE OF " ROYAL PEEACHEE." 435 



recently presented to me) to the printers, to be republished 
here in tract form, to be scattered over our country. It is a 
gem worth more than any in your Queen's crown. We are a 
little troubled here just now by the agitation of the slavery 
question, and the foam of our Slave States will pass off. It 
is our ' poison,' and its flavour is hard to get rid of. Our 
excellent Governor — Briggs — administers the State govern- 
ment in the spirit of a Christian ruler and the simplicity of 
an apostle. I have recently had an agreeable visit from Eev. 
John Thomson of the Scotch Free Church, now of St. J ohn's, 
New Brunswick, out from Scotland in 1848, where he was a 
settled minister. I received an account of the ' St. Mark's 
Free Church,' copied from the Scottish Guardian of Sept. 21, 
1849, from Dr. M'Gilvray, to whom I pray you to present 
me kindly when you see him. — With the highest respect, I 
assure you of my affectionate interest in you, 

" Alios Laurence." 

GOVERNOR BRIGGS TO MR. A. LAURENCE. 

" Pittsfield, March 31, 1851. 

" My dear Friend, — Your kind note of the 1 8th inst., in 
a package of good things — among which was one of the best 
of all things, Dr. Hamilton's lecture before the Young Men's 
Christian Association in London, on the 4th of February last, 
entitled ' Solomon the Prince and Solomon the Preacher' — 
came duly to hand. Absence from home, and various other 
hindrances, have prevented an earlier reply. I can't tell you 
how much I have been charmed, delighted, and instructed by 
the reading of the rich and beautiful lecture. As a fellow- 
man and as a fellow-Christian I feel under great obligations to 
the eloquent author of this production for his efforts to im- 
press upon the minds of the young men of his generation 
correct views of the sacred Scriptures, and the general truths 
which they inculcate. 

" His remarkable lecture before the same Association last 
year, upon 'The Literary Attractions of the Bible,' is emi- 
nently calculated to produce the same desirable result. Thou- 
sands of young men in this country have read, with thrilling 



436 



REPRINTS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



interest, that beautiful address. Its effects upon them, and 
upon those who will feel their influence, will be manifest 
after its worthy and faithful author shall have entered upon 
his reward in another and happier state of existence. I am 
highly gratified with the suggestion which you make in your 
note, of presenting to the young men of our country ' Solomon 
the Prince and Solomon the Preacher/ By doing so you will 
increase that obligation which your countrymen and humanity 
are already under to you for your numerous and continued 
acts of Christian munificence. I should be most happy in 
any way to be instrumental in laying before our young men 
this intellectual and moral treasure. How the destiny of our 
country would brighten if the noble and truly Christian senti- 
ment uttered by Dr. Hamilton in his last lecture, that ' the 
saint is greater than the sage, and discipleship to Jesus is the 
pinnacle of human dignity,' could be made to sink deep into 
the heart of the young men of the United States ! 

" I hope before long, but how soon I cannot say, to have 
the pleasure of taking you by the hand. Above all, we are 
indulging the hope that we shall be made happy by wel- 
coming you to our home during the coming summer. 

"G. N. B." 

MR. A. LAURENCE TO DR. HAMILTON. 

"Boston, April 5, 1851. 
" Keverend and dear Sir, — I will not withhold from you 
the charming letter of my friend Briggs, nor will I attempt to 
express in words my delight on receiving your letter of Feb- 
ruary 15, and its accompaniments. The lecture delivered to 
the young men on the 4th of February, although designated 
by you as a ' fragment/ I sent to my friend, with a copy of 
your letter, asking of him whether he would advise its re- 
printing, and whether he would scatter it with its predecessor 1 
If so I would pay the expense. His answer you have here ; 
and I have the pleasure of saying that the ' fragment ' will be 
ready to circulate by thousands the present week ; and when 
you shall have added your further comments upon ' Solomon,' 
and his works, our American Tract Society will be ready to 



THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR. 



437 



publish the whole by hundreds of thousands, I trust : thus en- 
abling you to preach through our whole country. The Memoir 
of Lady Colquhoun is a precious jewel, which I shall keep 
among my treasures, to leave to my descendants. I had pre- 
viously purchased a number of copies of the American edition, 
and scattered them among my friends, so that there is great 
interest to see your copy to me. 

" The part of your letter which touched my heart most was 
that in which you speak of my brother Abbott, and say of him, 
that ' no foreign minister is such a favourite with the British 
public/ for it brought him before me like a daguerreotype 
likeness of every period of his life for fifty years : first as the 
guiding spirit of the boys of our own neighbourhood in 
breaking through the deep snow drifts which often blocked up 
the roads in winter ; then as my apprentice in the city, and 
in a few years as the young military champion, to watch night 
and day, under arms, on the Point of Bunkerhill nearest the 
ocean, the movements of a British fleet lying withing four or 
five miles off him, which threatened the storming of Boston, 
but which happily they did not attempt; and, soon after, 
embarking in the very first ship from this port for England, 
after the close of the war, to purchase goods, and in eighty- 
four days after he sailed from here I received his first ship- 
ment ; and, from that time to this, our firm has been successful, 
and has never been changed, except by adding 'and Co.' 
when other partners were admitted ; and he has been making 
his way to the people's respect and affection from that time 
to this, and now fills the only public station I would not have 
protested against his accepting, feeling that 'place' cannot 
impart ' grace ; ' and my prayers ascend continually for him, 
that he may do his work under the full impression that he 
must give account to Him whose eye is constantly upon him, 
and whose ' well done ' will be infinitely better than all things 
are. I believe he is awakening an interest in Europe to learn 
more about this country ; and the people will be amazed to 
see what opportunities are here enjoyed for happiness for the 
great masses ; and what we most fear is that ignorance which 
will bring everything down to its own level, instead of that 
true knowledge that shall level up the lowest places, which 



438 



BLOOD THICKER THAN WATER. 



are inundated with foreign emigrants. Our duty is plain ; if 
we do not educate and elevate this class of our people they 
will change our system of government within fifty years. 
Virtue and intelligence is the basis of this government, and 
the duty of all good men is to keep it pure. My brother 
Samuel will probably hand you this letter, or if he does not, 
he will call on you soon after you receive it. He was the 
youngest, and the son of the old age of my parents, and the 
' pet ' of the whole family, and has more in him to love than 
either Abbott or I have. His wife is a granddaughter of Dr. 
Nesbit of Montrose, who came to this country in 1785, to be 
the President of Dickinson College, in Pennsylvania, and I 
believe he spent his days there in labouring to build it up. 
His granddaughter is dear to me as my own sister, and is the 
mother of seven as fine children as can be found in one family 
this side the Grampian hills. The two oldest boys have been 
in France, at school, the last year, and will return home with 
their father. I hope you will see them, and give them your 
blessing, for they are ' true Scots ' in their feelings and capa- 
cities. And now, my friend, what can I say that will influence 
you to come here and enjoy with me the beautiful scenes upon 
and around our Mount Zion. I live fast, for hardly a day 
passes that I do not ride. I am admonished to stop, for my 
head grows dizzy. Farewell. — With highest respect and 
affection, I am most truly yours, Amos Laurence. 

"Rev. Dr. Hamilton, 

42 Gower St., London. 

« p£. — Mrs. Laurence desires me to present to you and your 
lady her most respectful regards, with the assurance that your 
writings are very precious to her. She also is a grand- 
daughter of a clergyman of your ' Kirk,' and enjoys, with a 
keen relish, its best writings." 



CHAPTER X. 



1855-57. 

Of date 1st January 1855, occurs a brief review of the 
preceding year — a very remarkable document : — 

"During 1854 I have not lost an hour from sickness. 
I have preached 112 sermons, 77 of which were in Kegent 
Square, and 53 of which were new compositions. I have 
edited volumes i. and ii. of Excelsior, writing 208 pages 
thereof. The correspondence occasioned by this has been 
very extensive. I have preserved 161 letters from corre- 
spondents connected with the first volume, and 239 letters 
connected with the second — 400 in all. But the letters 
written by myself must have been more numerous than the 
letters written to me. Of letters of all kinds I cannot have 
written fewer than 2000 during the year. Some corre- 
spondences have been rather laborious : as, for instance, 
those connected with our China Mission, and the arrange- 
ment for Mr. Burns's itinerancies, and that occasioned by 
our Synod's overtures towards union with the United Pres- 
byterians. Except in Excelsior, I have printed little. A 
sermon to the Sunday-School Union, a sermon on the 
Thanksgiving for Harvest, and a memorial of deceased 
members of the Evangelical Alliance, are all that I re- 
collect. 



440 



TIME WASTED. 



" Committees, Presbyteries, and the Synods have ab- 
sorbed in the aggregate probably a month of time ; but in 
visits and in talking to visitors I have spent as many 
hours as, at the rate of twelve hours to the day, would make 
up two months. The only luxury in which I have 
attempted to indulge, was the learning of Dutch ; but for 
this I could only find a few hours in all the year. I have 
often been like to go crazy at the way in which my time 
is torn to atoms ; but there is no help for it. With a 
congregation to which I am tenderly attached, and for 
which I would fain do my best, and with subjects on which 
I would like to write fully, in the hope of eventually pub- 
lishing, — past forty, and the days flying so swiftly, I often 
feel almost maddened at the unprofitable objects on which 
my hours are wasted. Trudging wearily from house to 
house, often without any hope of usefulness, but merely 
to prevent people from feeling overlooked or offended, and 
sitting four mornings in every week to hear long stories, 
or attend to matters which a merchant's clerk could 
manage far better, do not seem the true end of the Chris- 
tian ministry. And when all these interruptions are over 
— when Friday has arrived, without being able to open a 
book or command a leisure hour since Monday morning, 
it is difficult to drop at once into the calm and devotional 
frame which suits with preparation for the pulpit, or even 
to command the mental energy. I write this at Mrs. 
Moore's, where we usually have a fortnight's retreat at 
Christmas. I shall try to keep a diary of occupations this 
year ; but, like the Highlander's barometer, I fear it will 
have no effect on the weather. 1854 is to be recorded as 



THE WASTE TURNED TO ACCOUNT. 



441 



a year full of the loving-kindness of the Lord. We have 
had slight ailments in the family, but no serious illness. 
Our abode at 48 Euston Square seems to have had a happy 
effect on my own health ; I have gone through more than 
usual work without injury." 

The subject here is the most precious of all treasures, 
" My time." There are two parties, and they deal with 
it in opposite ways. Himself mounts guard over it, like a 
miser over his gold, and other people thoughtlessly snatch 
and squander it, in spite of all his watchfulness. It is most 
interesting for an onlooker to stand by and watch the con- 
flict. Here and there he almost falls into a cynical vein 
as he laments the needless waste of the treasure, in com- 
pliance with despotic customs ; but the tone is immediately 
relieved by a slight dash of humour. There is room for 
grave regret that so much of a life that was fitted for great 
things was frittered away on secondary objects : yet we 
are persuaded all is not lost that seems lost here. If he had 
not been a minister, or had ministered in a small and ob- 
scure place, it is more than questionable whether all the 
effort saved on the one side would have been effectually 
turned to account on the other. Even the great accele- 
ration of mental speed caused by the number and imperious 
nature of his avocations imparted a glow to his published 
works, which they might possibly have lacked if he had 
been possessed of learned leisure such as many dignitaries 
of the English Church enjoy. The bolts might possibly, 
in such a case, have been more elongated and more ex- 
quisitely polished, but they might have been colder, and 



442 



PUBLIC LIFE AXD LITERARY POWER. 



consequently less fitted to set on fire the hearts and minds 
they fell upon. 

The Epistles of Paul, on their human side, took their 
character from the amazing activity of his life. They owe 
much of their piercing power, instrumentally, to the high 
pressure under which the writer continually lay. For the 
mere exposition of scientific truth, it is better that the 
expositor be a recluse ; but writings that have most moved 
mankind, are writings that have been thrown out at small 
openings between the tasks of active and overburdened 
lives. 

His complaints are natural, and, in the main, well 
founded ; and yet, if in these matters he had been per- 
mitted to carve out his own lot, it is doubtful whether 
the result would have been more valuable to the Church 
or the world. The loss of his time, if he had taken it 
easy, would indeed have been a calamity ; but the apparent 
paradox might, with a large measure of truth, be main- 
tained, that such a man's time cannot be lost. Even 
the indignation cherished against the robbers served, like 
the charge of an air-gun, to increase the impetus of the 
next working hour. On the whole, although we cannot 
but lament the annoyances to which he was exposed, it is 
probable that all would not have proved solid gain if he 
had been placed beyond their reach. 

The next entry, dated on the following day, is intended 
as a practical justification of the unceremonious expres- 
sions which he had applied to the intruders : — 

" 2d Jan. 1855. — Wrote eight letters. Tramped in 
from St. John's Wood to Harrington Square to attend 



THEEE WORTHIES. 



443 



Mr. 's Bible meeting, where there were four minis- 
ters expounding to six ladies." 

The memorial of deceased members of the Evangelical 
Alliance, mentioned in the preceding summary, was a 
precious and much relished contribution to the cause of 
Christian union. Besides briefer notices of less known 
brethren, the paper embraces warm-hearted and full- 
bodied eulogies in memory of three worthies of the first 
rank who had been called away during the year, — Ward- 
law of Glasgow, Gordon of Edinburgh, and Jay of Bath. 
The sanctified genius of Hamilton was peculiarly fitted to 
express among the assembled brethren the reverential 
love which all cherished for the memory of those departed 
chiefs. The Christian commonwealth has its heroes, and 
it has also its poets to proclaim their worth. Dr. Hamil- 
ton rendered many services to the cause of the Alliance, 
but none have been more valued and remembered than 
that glowing and graceful tribute to the faith and holiness 
of those eminent men. 

A letter from a minister in Sweden, regarding the trans- 
lation of Life in Earnest, will serve to link him with the 
band of earnest Christians who have been raised up to do 
the work of the Lord in the long frozen North : — 

FROM H. J. LUNDBOKGr. 

" February 15, 1855. 

" Dear Friend, — The pleasant surprise of a present in 
books, with a letter from you, has arrived to me by a 
sister in the Lord, Froken Therese Eappe. You under- 
stand beforehand that it was very welcome to my heart. 



444 



A SWEDE — AN AMERICAN". 



Many thanks I therefore send you, and wish that I may 
prove thankful to you and other generous Scotch friends 
yet more in deeds than in words. The Lord give in 
mercy His blessed grace thereto. If not else I may be 
enabled, perhaps I myself by my own hand, to forward 
you a copy of the translation of your Life in Earnest. I 
hope soon to come over to Scotland, with the Lord's smile, 
perhaps next month, and may therefrom at leisure also 
come to London. Then I shall be glad to personally meet 
with you, and present you the little copy. Overwhelming 
ministerial duties have hitherto hindered me to do more 
than glance a little in the dear books you sent; but 
H. Bonar's were beloved old friends, and Pike's Early 
Piety and others look very good and interesting indeed. 
Some days ago I read your Lamp and the Lantern. 
Thanks for it, and for your valued friendship in the Lord 
to me, a very unknown foreigner, but your affectionate 
friend and brother in Christ, 

" H. J. LUNDBORG." 

" March 22d, 1855. — Was much interested this morning 
by the visit of a young American, Gideon Draper, from 
New York. He had been qualifying himself for a literary 
life when he read " The Literary Attractions of the Bible." 1 
Till then the Bible was a book of which he knew nothing, 
but this lecture induced him to read it. The consequence 
was that he was led to believe in it and love it, and 
resolved to devote his life to its study and illustration. 

1 One of the chapters of The Light to the Path, at first published 

separately. 



his mother's death. 



445 



Accordingly he lias spent the last eighteen months at 
Berlin, where Mtzsch appears to have been of the greatest 
use to him. He is intelligent, and I hope to see more of 
him. 

"Monday, April 2. — In March wrote 165 letters, and 
six new sermons, besides editing Excelsior. Intending to 
commence lectures on the Hebrews, — have given a course 
on the origin and history of sacrifices, and have read a 
good deal with this design. 

" Good Friday, April 6. — On Saturday morning had a 
letter from Stonehouse, mentioning that on the Wednes- 
day evening, during family worship, our dear mother had 
been seized with a paralytic stroke. She lingered till 
yesterday morning, when she passed peacefully away to 
the ' saints' everlasting rest.' Had she been spared ten 
days longer she would have survived my father twenty 
years. Last December she completed the threescore and 
ten. 

" Never was there a life of such constant, yet uncon- 
scious, self-sacrifice. Her whole existence was spent in 
taking thought for the comfort and welfare of others ; and 
few mothers or sisters have spent more days and nights 
in watching over and nursing the sick members of the 
family. Her affections were wonderfully warm, and it was 
with bitter anguish that she closed the eyes of my aunt 
Elizabeth, and then of my oldest sister Elizabeth, next my 
father, then dear gentle Mary, then her last and like- 
minded daughter, and soon after that daughter's only child. 
But as soon as the burst of sorrow was over, she was 
ready for a new labour of love ; and to the last the well- 



446 



eis mother's character. 



spring of her loving-kindness never dried, and the sun- 
shine of her cheerfulness never shaded. The last four 
years of her life were devoted to my brother William and 
his two motherless children, and that last evening of health 
was spent in entertaining a tea-party of the Stonehouse 
villagers. Very rare was the union as it existed in her of 
good sense and deep feeling, of frugality and generosity. 
Her affinity was for superior minds, but such was her 
kind-heartedness and her dread of hurting others, that she 
would sit hour after hour listening to the long stories of 
very uninteresting people, and making them happy by her 
cordial sympathy. I never knew one with so little male- 
volence. She seemed sometimes to be provoked at herself 
because she could not be angry. Though her turn was 
not literary, she was a great admirer of sublime or beauti- 
ful writing ; but her book was the Bible." 

Although the present editor enjoyed the privilege of 
knowing Mrs. Hamilton for many years, he thinks it would 
be out of place to express here, even in the briefest form, 
his own view of her life and labours. Where her son has 
deliberately and carefully written her epitaph, he will not 
presume to intrude further than to indorse from an out- 
side view -point all that filial affection has testified of her 
gentle goodness. 

"48 Euston Square, April 6, 1855. 
" My dear Andrew, — When I wrote to you on Wednes- 
day, I little thought that my next letter would be so dif- 
ferent. But most likely you have already heard direct 
from Stonehouse. It seems that dear mamma grew worse 
on Wednesday, but rallied again in the evening, so that 



JOURNEY TO LIVERPOOL. 



447 



at ten William went to bed. At one the nurse called 
hini. She complained of excessive cold, and hot bottles 
were brought, which gave no relief. She asked him to 
pray, and then desired him to speak to her, which he did, 
repeating texts, till a quarter past two, when she gently 
passed away. With all its solemnity and tenderness, this 
is no time for mere sorrow. Never was there a more 
benignant, self-denying, beautiful life ; and now that life 
has expanded into immortality, after a separation of twenty 
years, all but eleven days, she has rejoined our father, and 
has found again Elizabeth, and Mary, and Jane, and Jane's 
little boy. Her warfare is accomplished, and the days of 
her mourning are ended. It would seem as if her death 
had been the resurrection of all my childhood. The old 
manse, with her active figure gliding up the stair, or trip- 
ping along the grass paths of the garden, thirty years ago ; 
readings in the nursery, or talking s to the maids at the 
spinning wheel on evenings when my father was away 
from home, and old-world memories that gather round 
that scene, so sweet and holy, that one feels now like an 
' exile of Eden.' " 

" 30 Catherine Street, Liverpool, 
April 10, 1855. 

"My dear Annie, — Yesterday I had for my fellow- 
travellers Leone Levi, and Mr. M'Clure, of Belfast, the 
treasurer of the Irish Presbyterian Foreign Mission,— a 
delightful man. The only drawback was, that it con- 
verted into a talk what I intended for a reading journey. 
To compensate this, however, I must confess that Mr. 
Levi's talk is more instructive than some books. Last 



448 



BEAUTIFUL IN DEATH. 



night there was a large congregation in a lovely chapel 
It is a vast amphitheatre, without galleries, and the 
seats, all lined with crimson cloth, rising tier above tier 
round the room. Nothing can he more comfortable and 
cozy. 

"Seldom has any one travelled to attend a mother's 
funeral with feelings exactly the same as mine ; no grief, 
no bitterness, nothing but the thankful feeling, ' He hath 
done all things well.' No children ever had a better 
mother, and none can have a surer hope regarding her 
who is gone ; and the gentle departure which has closed 
that beautiful career completes the loving-kindness of 
the Lord." 

" Stonehouse, April 11, 1855. 

"My deakest Annie, — . . . It was after midnight 
when I passed through Stonehouse, and my meditations 
were rather mournful. The habits of the people here are 
very late. In many houses the lights were still burning. 
At the manse I found William, and Andrew, and Jane 
Proudfoot sitting up for me. When I had gone up to 
bed, Andrew came to my room and invited me to go in 
and see mamma. She lay in her coffin, the most wonder- 
ful sight I ever saw, her features as full and firm, her 
complexion as fresh and with a hue as ruddy as in the 
highest health, and a calm reposing expression. It was 
quite beautiful. And yet it was very solemn there, in 
that cold and windy room with candle-light, between one 
. and two in the morning, and all the past rushed back, far 
more vividly than if there had been a greater change." 



his mother's burial. 



449 



"Storehouse, April 12, 1855. 
" My deaeest Annie, — We have just returned from fol- 
lowing to their resting-place the dear remains. It would 
seem that, in the wanderings of her last days, her thoughts 
were all of her early years, the bright scenes of her girl- 
hood ; and it looked as if the happy rememhrance had 
given a younger as well as gladder expression to her 
countenance. Certainly I have seldom seen it so placid 
and free of care as when I took my last look of it this 
morning. She had given Andrew w T hat had been her 
church Bible fifty years ago, in two red morocco silver- 
clasped volumes, with a good deal of her pencil-writing 
in them. Poor Andrew, his grief is more bitter than ours. 
He feels that his earthly sheet-anchor is gone. It was veiy 
affecting at her funeral to-day, carrying her unconscious 
form over the gravel path and out at the green gate which 
had been familiar with her presence so long. Nearly a 
hundred of the villagers attended, all anxious to have 
their turn in carrying the coffin a little way." 

In common with all ministers in great cities, he experi- 
enced the difficulty of obtaining personal access to those 
members of the flock, young men, for the most part, who 
were closely occupied during the day, and had no family 
home in London. By aid of zealous elders and deacons 
this difficulty was in some measure surmounted. From a 
correspondence in 1855 between Dr. Hamilton and Mr. A. 
Wark, at that time a deacon, I learn the method adopted. 
The deacon intimates to the minister that he finds the 
superintendence in his district defective, and suggests that 

2f 



450 METHOD OF VISITING THE YOUNG MEN. 



a meeting of all might be attained in the evening if he 
could undertake to attend and preside. The minister 
cordially consents, thankful for the opportunity. A cir- 
cular is prepared and distributed ; the meeting is convened. 
To the great delight of both parties, the evening is spent 
partly in friendly recognitions and conversations, partly 
in counsels and prayers. The process is repeated at in- 
tervals in the same district, and spreads into others. 

It was at one of those city meetings, held in the district 
of Mr. Gillespie, that the much appreciated published ser- 
mon on " Thankfulness" originated. In the course of some 
calls made by the minister and elder in company during 
the day, Mr. Gillespie mentioned the passage regarding 
thankfulness in Isaak Walton, and showed it to him 
when he reached home in the evening. The address for 
that time was founded upon it, and that address soon ex- 
panded into the discourse, preached on a public occasion 
in the north of England, and afterwards published as a tract. 

The talents of the minister were peculiarly adapted for 
this class of the community, and for turning to the best 
account any such easy interview. 1 

"May 1855.— On Monday, May 21, 1 left Dudley, where 

1 In my own experience I have met the same difficulty, and partially over- 
come it in the same way. Young men dissociated from families in great mer- 
cantile cities are precisely the class who at once most need the visit of a 
minister, and are most apt to be overlooked. When I attempted to reach 
them in the ordinary way, I experienced one difficulty first in finding them 
out, and then another in finding them in. If the district enjoys the services of 
a deacon or elder who has some love in his heart and some faculty of organiza- 
tion in his head, the object will be obtained. A circular, a meeting place, 
either in a private house or a public room, a cup of tea with a slice of bread- 
there is your opportunity ; it is your own fault if you do not occupj 
it. 



RAILWAY COLLISION. 



451 



I had been preaching on the previous Sabbath, at eleven 
o'clock. I took my place in a second-class carriage, the 
last of the train ; two other men were in it. We had not 
gone many hundred yards from the station, and were 
passing under a bridge, when in an instant there was a 
violent shock, and all was outcry and confusion. One of 
the men beside me struck his head against the wooden 
partition, and howled out most hideously; the other, 
whose knee was sadly crushed, was pitched over from the 
opposite angle to where I was ; my hat was knocked off, 
but I picked it up, and found myself quite uninjured. 
The incident was for a moment very terrible. The usual 
noise of a train in motion instantly converted into a crash, 
'and that crash as instantly succeeded by a sort of silence 
— the clack and whizz of the wheels and engine arrested 
only to make audible the shrieks and groans of the pas- 
sengers. On opening the carriage door it was terrible to 
see so many people with cut cheeks and brows, one poor 
man with his face covered with a veil of blood, and faint- 
ing ladies, and all the uncertainty as to the extent of the 
disaster. However, it proved that no one was fatally in- 
jured, though few had escaped without a cut or a bruise? 
and some, I believe, had broken bones. We had run into 
another train, the two engines coming tilt at one another, 
but neither was at full speed — a merciful and memorable 
Providence, to which was owing the preservation of many 
lives. I was reading the life of Joseph Hardcastle, in 
Morrison's Fathers and Founders of the Missionary Society, 
borrowed from his daughter, Mrs. Haldane. I was reading 
at page 391 — a letter written to Mrs. Hardcastle when 



452 



REST FOR THE WEARY. 



away from home, and had got to the following sentence : — 
' It is however necessary, though painful, to reflect that a 
separation will, at no very distant date, take place, in which 
there admits no hope or possibility of ever again associat- 
ing in the present life. How solitary and mournful will 
the remainder of existence be to the sorrowing survivor ! 
how dreary the journey which must be travelled alone !' 
In the panic of the crash, which took place at this word, I 
had just time to think that perhaps the journey was ended. 
But it has been otherwise ordered. May the interval be 
spent in doing what will make the pang less bitter when 
it comes, and the memories afterwards still sweeter and 
more sacred." 

" Litthhampton, Sept 2. — Weary, weary, weary! After 
ninety-six Sabbaths of preaching, last Sabbath was the 
first day of rest I have had for nearly two years. The 
vital powers seem low, and even in my briskest move- 
ments there is a latent languor of which I am only too 
conscious. The difficulty is to get a little relaxation. 
This is a charming place, and our kind friend, Mr. Ander- 
son, has taken us delightful trips to Arundel, etc., but 
loads of letters, college examinations, and such things 
often make it late in the day before I can get any good of 
the open air. Had a most kind message from the elders, 
urging me to get a month's supply for the pulpit, so as to 
get a thorough renovation." 

The next letter, from a very eminent minister in New 
York, since deceased, lifts again a corner of the veil, and 



DR. JAMES W. ALEXANDER. 



453 



gives us another glimpse of the real securities for peace 
between Great Britain and America : — 

FROM DR. JAMES W. ALEXANDER. 

" New York, Nov. 19, 1855. 

" Eev. and dear Sir, — . . . Often have I recalled the 
home which, as a stranger, I enjoyed in your company in 
1851 ; and often have I wished I could see you in my 
home and pulpit here. Late events have made my heart 
tremble for the ark of peace ; and this feeling has coloured 
both my preaching and public utterances in prayer. The 
dread of war between our respective countries has, however, 
been much more lively with you than with us ; to a degree 
which has caused nothing worse than a smile in most 
companies with which I am conversant. It is wonderful 
how much of the froth and foam is floated over to you in 
the shape of newspaper extravagance. I protest to you, 
on the word of a Christian, that, living as I do in our 
greatest town, I have never met with a human being who 
did not look on war with Great Britain as horrible. At the 
same time, I am not prepared to aver that there are not 
those who would (like Catiline's fellows) seem to gain by 
outbreaks. By comparing your own public journals with 
those of the Continent, you will be able to conceive how 
the burst of a gazetteer in a hasty leader might come 
erroneously to be taken for the popular acclamation. And 
our newspapers are more reckless and licentious than 
yours. There is a profound and almost universal feeling, 
among thoughtful and religious people, of a common 
interest with our brethren in England, as having a com- 



454 



CHRISTIAN BIOGEAPHY. 



munity of blood, language, and faith. Demagogues and 
ambitious plotters might involve us, but our hope is in 
God. And, in my humble judgment, the sanctuaries of 
both countries ought to be rilled with supplications con- 
cerning this matter to the God of peace. . . . 

"I am older and graver than when we met. My 
honoured father and my beloved mother have since fallen 
asleep. My own health last autumn was impaired to the 
degree of imminent danger. For some months, however, 
I have been in full service, in a very large congregation, 
and with responsibilities which I need not describe to 
you. 

" May we, through grace, fight the good fight, and lay 
hold on eternal life ! My poor prayers shall be for yon 
and yours. — I am, dear Sir, your friend and fellow- servant, 

James W. Alexander. 

"No. 30 West Eighteenth Street." 

FROM MR. PETER BATNE. 

" 4 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, 
January 11, 1855. 

" Eev. dear Sir, — Permit me to offer for your accept- 
ance the accompanying volume. I cannot but feel that 
there is a certain specialty in sending you a book which 
attempts Christian biography ; and if I made out a list of 
those to whom I am more particularly indebted for assist- 
ance, you should certainly occupy a high place ; your 
paper on ' Simeon and his contemporaries' (or predecessors, 
as I think it was) formed an epoch iu my life. . . . 

"lama student of divinity in connexion with the Free 



THE SEED BEARING FRUIT. 



455 



Church, this being my fourth session. I have had oppor- 
tunities of marking the influence of Carlylian infidelity on 
young minds, and have seen one or two of the noblest, and 
perhaps ablest young men I have ever known turned from 
the plain old path thereby. This, together with a desire 
to do in Christian biography what has been done in the 
biography of natural religionists, put me on the track of 
thought which issued in Christian Life. This is nearly 
what I state in the preface ; there, however, referring 
mainly to the ideas, and here to their occasion. I sincerely 
say that, had your essays been republished from the North 
British Review, one great inducement to the composition 
of my volume had been withdrawn, Peter Bayne." 

Although Dr. Hamilton's literary life has scarcely passed 
its meridian, the harvest has for some time been begun. 
From time to time indications appear in various quarters 
that the seed sown by his hand has been fruitful. What- 
ever weeping he may have experienced in the seed-time, 
he may now bear home his sheaves rejoicing. His reli- 
gious biographies stimulated and directed a thoughtful 
student in the University of Edinburgh ; the result was, a 
volume on the Christian life, in its concrete forms, which 
has been largely read, and highly valued. This book was 
itself the first-fruits of an original and suggestive mind, 
and the commencement of an active literary life. 

"London, Jan. 10, 1656. 

" My dear William, — . . . Since you were here, we 
have hardly spent an evening at home. Usually, our visits 



456 " GENTLE AND EASY TO BE ENTREATED/' 

are to good, matter-of-fact friends. Sometimes they are 
to places where people come whom you are glad to see. 
Last night I dined with Murray of Albemarle Street, and 
every guest was a notable — Professor Owen, Ellis (the 
Polynesian), Selwyn (editor of the Quarterly), Sir John 
M'Neill, and a surgeon of General Williams's staff, who has 
just arrived from Kars. Last week, too, at Mr. Mellors, 
we encountered a number of legal celebrities, and if there 
were time to note all the curious anecdotes and good 
sayings of such seasons they would make an interesting 
miscellany. 

m " Mudie, the librarian, was kind enough to make me a 
present of Macaulay, the morning of publication ; but I 
only began it yesterday. A review of Harris's Patriarchy, 
for the Eclectic, will snap up to-day and to-morrow, which 
would otherwise have been free, as I have only one sermon 
to prepare. On Sabbath evening I have to preach in 
Exeter Hall." 

"Birkenhead, April 21, 1856. 

"My dearest Annie, — Much was I delighted with 
your warm, wifely letter. It came in yesterday morning, 
and I read it, reserving others for to-day. You greatly 
overrate my powers of pleasing, and in some respects my 
disposition. On the whole, I hope I have a certain fund 
of kindliness, and I suffer exquisitely from giving pain. 
Tilings I say in the way of finding fault, or which escape 
in the course of an animated debate, often give more dis- 
tress to myself than to their objects. But I frequently 
reproach myself for not making more vigorous efforts to 



BEARING INTERRUPTIONS. 



457 



diffuse happiness. My literary propensities are here the 
great antagonists. With a love of books and a thirst for 
information sometimes approaching frenzy, I get so little 
done in the way of reading and learning that what I do in 
that way seems selfish. ISTo minister in all my acquaint- 
ance has the same amount of miscellaneous work, busi- 
ness, correspondence, church affairs, civilities to strangers, 
foreigners, aristocratic (?) acquaintances — by the time it 
is despatched I have only a day or two in the week for 
sermons, pastoral visits, self-improving study, etc. Were 
it not for this, I flatter myself I would be so amiable ! 
You must make up for my lack. 

" My host is a man of great evenliness and sweetness of 
spirit. We had a very pleasant Sabbath. On Saturday 
I felt a tendency to cold ; to-day I am delightfully well. 
—In much haste, your ever affectionate husband, 

"J. Hamilton." 

I have often admired, when I had occasion to be living 
with him in his house for a few days, the facility and 
cheerfulness with which he submitted to interruptions, 
when he was engaged with his own severer work. He is 
sitting in his chair, with a miniature jointed desk attached 
to its arm, drawing from his brain the threads of thought, 
and tracing them quickly with his little crow quill, when 
a rap is heard at the door, and a stranger is introduced — 
a Presbyterian minister, or a general philanthropist from 
America. Forthwith the conversation begins. How it 
goes with slavery in the south. Do Yale and Princeton 
thrive? How do latitude, soil, and sea air affect the 



458 



PUESUIT OF KNOWLEDGE 



cotton crop in quantity or quality? He is immediately 
at home, and makes the stranger at home too. The 
conversation in due time draws to a close, and the visitor 
retires with a heart perhaps a shade happier and 
more hopeful. The student flings himself down again 
on his chair with some quaint remark, at which he 
laughs heartily himself, and by which he shakes the 
sides of the friend who may be sitting at work in 
another corner. In another moment the bi^ brow is knit- 
ting itself, folding and unfolding its long deep furrows. 
The end of the broken thread is caught, the crow quill is 
again in motion, and the stream is flowing at once rapidly 
and smoothly. In a few minutes another rap resounds 
through the house ; and if you happen to be looking in 
the right direction you will observe a twitch of vexation 
flitting across his face. It is but a momentary emotion 
however ; ere the new visitor is announced he is on his 
feet, springing across the room to meet him. In this case 
it is a man from the city whom he slightly knows, gather- 
ing up votes and items of influence with the view of 
placing an orphan in a certain hospital. Dr. Hamilton's 
word in such a case will go far with this and that other 
large contributor, and his recommendation will procure 
several votes. The case is good, and two or three notes 
are quickly written. The philanthropist departs with 
hurried and warm expressions of thankfulness; and the 
student betakes himself to the task of finding and knitting 
his broken thread again. 

Thus the wheel goes round ; for even at his busy time 
he was not apt to retire or hide himself. His power of 



UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 



459 



recovering the thought after an interruption, and of bear- 
ing the interruption without a symptom of irritation, was 
much observed and admired by his friends. This faculty, 
however, was not a power that came of its own accord. 
The act as exercised by him seemed easy, as the tripping 
of a musician's ringers over the keys of an instrument 
seems easy, hardly requiring an exercise of the thought or 
will at all, but in both cases the facility has been acquired 
by much honest labour. In Dr. Hamilton's character two 
principles, in some respects antagonistic, combined to 
produce the result. By judgment and habit he set a very 
high value on time for the accomplishment of life's great 
work, and a high value also on cheerful affability mani- 
fested toward all, as an effective practical recommendation 
of the gospel. Between these two he was sometimes very 
hard pressed. And, alas ! even when he overcame the 
difficulty, and gave each its due, the effort overstrained his 
powers and undermined his health. 

It has been said that to look on near objects as they flit 
past from the window of a railway carriage injures the 
sight, by compelling the eyes to adjust themselves to 
different objects in too rapid succession. In a similar 
way, although he succeeded in quickly adjusting the focus 
of mental vision to the interrupted train of thought, the 
exertion, frequently repeated, was fitted to wear out the 
faculties, and induce premature decay. The sacrifice of 
life to duty is not perhaps so rare as the readers of hero- 
history might be disposed to think. 



460 " CAST DOWN, BUT NOT DESTROYED." 



"10 Cornfield Terrace, Eastbourne, 
August 13, 1856. 

"The elasticity which God has given to the human 
mind is great. The last fortnight has been deeply clouded 
by the death of C. M. Charles, poor Helen's early widow- 
hood, and many lesser sorrows connected with that greater 
one. I have not been without anxieties connected with tht, 
congregation. Our children have hooping-cough, and after 
every precaution to keep her insulated, I fear poor little 
Christina has taken it, and the last nights have been very 
wretched. But sleepy, heart- stricken, labour-wasted as I 
am, and full of sympathy for my weak and over-toiled 
wife, something keeps my spirits up. Doubtless, mercies 
superabound. The birth of this little daughter and her 
mother's restoration ; the hopeful convalescence of the 
three elder ones ; the kindness of Lady Pirie, the dear 
Watsons, and other friends ; this sweet place ; the plea- 
sures of hope ; the over- canopying brightness of the new 
covenant; and the knowledge that there is 'a better 
country/ " 

TO MR. WATSON. 

"Eastbourne, Sept. 4, 1856. 
" A series of sixpenny booklings might be got together 
by a little contrivance and correspondence — 12 numbers. 
Could not Gosse do it ? He has many friends, and is a 
new name in Berners Street. My own desire is to keep 
every hour of leisure for the next four years ! ! sacred for 
this great work on the Bible. It will need it all, and de- 
serves a great deal more. I am often much excited about 
it, sometimes quite appalled. The only intermediate work 



THE MISSION TO CHINA. 



461 



I have to get out of hand is The Great Biography. I 
have corrected and got ready so much of it. This time 
I think it will he better to merge the lecture and divide 
into sections like a hook." 

The ruling passion again ! Eager to despatch the work 
in hand, not now for its own sake, hut in order to clear the 
way for a greater that loomed beyond it. 

We regret that there is not room in this record for fuller 
notices of the mission to China. 1 For three years William 
Burns was in the field alone. In 1 850 a medical missionary, 
Dr. Young, joined him. After a course of great usefulness, 
Dr. Young died inl855. In 1853 Mr. James Johnston, a 
licentiate of the English Church, was appointed ; hut after 
a trial of two years, he was obliged to return on account 
of his health, and has long occupied an important post in 
Glasgow. In 1855 Mr. Carstairs Douglas, a licentiate of 
the Free Church, was ordained at Glasgow for the mission 
work in China, and has from that day till now consecrated 

1 There is, however, the less reason for regret on this account, that a Me- 
moir of William Burns, necessarily containing some history of the Mission, 
will issue ahout the same time from the press of the same publishers. Sub- 
joined is a register of the Mission from its commencement till the death oi 
Dr. Hamilton : — 

Eev. W. C. Burns, ordained at Sunderland, April 22, 1847, Arrived Nov. 16, 1847, At Newchwang. 
James H. Young, M.D., Edinburgh, appointed 1850, died 10th February 1855. 

Eev. James Johnston, ordained at Manchester, April 26, 1853, returned invalided September 1855. 

* „ Carstairs Douglas, „ Glasgow, Feb. 21, 1855, Arrived July 1S5-5, At Amoy. 

,, Davtd Sandemaji, „ Liverpool, April 26, 1S56, „ Dec. 1856, died 31st July 1858. 

* „ George Smith, „ Aberdeen, June 8. 18-57, „ Nov. 1857, At Swatow. 
,, W. S. Swansos, „ London, April 22, 1S59, „ July 2, 1860, „ Home. 

„ Hur L. Mackenzie, „ London, Jan. 6, 1860, „ July 2, 1860, „ Swatow. 

„ Hugh Cowie, sailed from London, July 1862, „ Dec. 1862, „ Amoy. 

* „ William Gauld, M.D., ,, May 1,1863, „ Sept. 18, 1863, ,, Swatow. 
,, J. L Maxwell, M.D., ,, July 1863, ., Dec. 1863, „ Formosa. 

•Eev. Wm. M'Gregok, ordained at Aberdeen, May 16, 1864, ,, Oct 1S64, „ Amoy. 
Eev. David Masson, „ London, June 20, 1866, „ Washed overboard and drowned 

Eev. Hcgh Eiichie, ,, London, June 17, 1867. [Nov. 10, 1SC6. 

• Sent out and supported by the Association in Scotland. 
Dr. Carnegie has charge of the Hospital at Amoy. 



462 



MR. DAVID SANDEMAN. 



high talents and character with singular simplicity and 
steadfastness to the work of the Lord in that heathen land. 
Mr. Douglas is now the senior member of the mission, and 
is eminently qualified by learning, acuteness, and judicial 
calmness, either for conducting the work on the spot, or 
representing it, when necessary, before the Church and the 
world. 

David Sandeman, the next missionary appointed, has, 
through his family connexion, his youth, his apostolic 
devotion, and the shortness of his course, attracted in an 
extraordinary measure the sympathetic regard of all who 
love the cause of missions in the land. Possessing by the 
favour of the King all the talents, he laid them out without 
reserve in the King's service. A pleasant glimpse of his 
bearing on the eve of departure for the mission-field is 
given in a letter from Dr. Hamilton to Mrs. George Bar- 
bour, his sister. Mrs. Barbour was in a peculiar manner 
attached to this mission from the first. She deeply ap- 
preciated the ministry of William Burns while he remained 
at home ; and after he was permanently settled in China, 
she contributed, through Dr. Hamilton, to the Messenger 
a most valuable series of papers, under the title "A 
Hearer's Notes of Discourses by William Burns." Accord- 
ingly, it is in a strain of the most affectionate esteem and 
regard that Dr. Hamilton addresses her on the occasion of 
her brother's visit to him in London, preparatory to his 
voyage. 

Mr. Barbour has all along borne the burden or enjoyed 
the privilege (for both are true) of ministering to the 
mission, — in taking charge of its affairs in Scotland. 



LETTEE TO MBS. BARBOUK. 



463 



FROM DR. HAMILTON. 

"London, Oct. 9, 1856. 
" My dear Mrs. Barbour, — Owing to my absence from 
town there has not yet appeared a very important letter 
written by Mr. Douglas in May, giving an account of the 
ordination of Chinese elders. Your brother's visit (much 
shortened, however, by frequent expeditions elsewhere) 
was a great treat to us. It is six years since any one 
passed from under our roof so completely carrying with 
him the heart of every inmate. So manly, so noble, and 
assuring, every feature radiant with kindness, and every 
movement instinct with grace and goodness, he had all 
the happiness of one who was taking a right step, and who 
knew that the Lord was with him. To look at him, and 
think of the sacrifice he was making, was enough to bring 
the tears into the eyes of others ; but amidst all his self- 
consecration there was on his own part no consciousness 
of sacrifice, and many a cheerful sally as well as his whole 
bright demeanour betokened the peace within. The night 
he went away, he went up to the nursery and kissed baby 
in the cradle (for whom he has left a beautiful Bible, to 
be given her when old enough), and went down to the 
kitchen and spoke to the servants, and gave each of them 
a book ; and now, like ourselves, they feel that, ever since 
he left, something very good and holy has passed away. 
My wife and I now understand what it must have been to 
his mother and yourselves to part with such a son and 
brother. But I doubt not the blessing will be proportional. 
I trust he is to turn many to righteousness, and will shine 



464 THE SABBATH-SCHOOLS OF STOCKPORT. 



as a star in the firmament. We were much concerned to 
hear that you were suffering so much when Mr. Barbour 
came away. Mrs. Hamilton sends her warmest regards, 
and I remain, dear Mrs. Barbour, most truly yours, 

" James Hamilton." 

Dr. Hamilton presided over the Foreign Missions Com- 
mittee till his death. "As Convener of the Foreign 
Missions Committee of the English Presbyterian Church, 
he cast the halo of his genius and the glow of his warm 
loving nature round their Mission to China; and the 
popularity of his much honoured name has given it a 
publicity far beyond the limits of the denomination he 
distinguished by his ministry. His ardent character in- 
fused energy into the foreign enterprise of a Church apt 
to be absorbed by its struggle with difiiculties at home ; 
and the fervour of his piety diffused itself through all the 
operations of the society over which he presided." 

"Stockport, Oct. 13, 1856. 10 a.m. 

"My dearest Annie, — I got safely and comfortably 
here before eleven on Saturday. Mr. Wilkinson met me at 
the train. He is a cozy bachelor, with a nice house ; grand 
piano, on which he plays splendidly, and everything a la 
mode. Yesterday, nearly 4000 children were mustered in 
their mighty school-room, to whom I made an address ; 
and I preached in the same place, in the evening, amidst a 
tempest of music from organ, bassoons, kettle-drums, and 
hundreds of choristers. However, I confess it was remark- 
ably good music." 



THE BISHOP OF LONDON. 



465 



"London, Oct. 17, 1856. 

" My dear William, — . . . Last Sabbath I preached 
for the Sunday schools at Stockport, and had all the organs, 
kettle-drums, etc., of which Dr. Chalmers gives such a 
comical account. But I am in no mood to quiz them. In 
some respects it is the noblest institution of the kind in all 
the empire. In the morning I addressed 4000 children ; 
in the evening a vast congregation of grown-up people. 
The collection was £209. My old fellow-student Tait is 
now Bishop of London. There could hardly have been a 
better appointment. I wrote him a few lines of congra- 
tulation, and had a very hearty answer." 

The letter from Dr. Tait, which seems to have been 
written after he was nominated to the Bishopric of London, 
but before his consecration, is simple, frank, and brotherly. 
It is honourable to both, and ought to find a place in this 
record : — 

FROM THE DEAN OF CARLISLE. 

"Oct. 15, 1856. 

" My dear Mr. Hamilton, — Let me thank you for your 
very kind letter. The sad events which have befallen 
Mrs. Tait and myself during the last six months make the 
thoughts connected with this unexpected change in our 
prospects doubly solemn. It is a great satisfaction to me 
to believe that I have the hearty prayers as well as the 
good wishes of many kind friends, and I assure you that 
I greatly feel your kindness. 

"Many changes have taken place since our Glasgow 
days, yet how short the time appears since we were there ! 
A strong motive, in this shortness of life, to work while it 

2 G 



466 FRUITS FROM "LIFE IN EARNEST." 



is day. I hope we may soon meet. — Believe me to be, 
my dear Mr. Hamilton, ever yours sincerely, 

" A. C. Tait." 

One of those men whom Life in Earnest caught as with 
a hook in the jaws, and convicted of wasting precious 
talents, writes to him as follows : — 

" Oct. 24, 1856. 

" Eeverend Sik, — To one whose life has, alas ! been very 
much misspent, the accidental perusal of your excellent 
book, entitled Life in Earnest, has caused a great revulsion 
of feeling. It has suddenly, as it were, conjured up around 
me ten thousand ghosts of neglected opportunities ; it 
says ' redeem the morning of time ; ' but with me, alas ! 
the morning has passed away, and the day itself is far 
spent, and, like a wearied traveller on a mistaken road, I 
have at length, in this book, found a guide-post that tells 
me my journey has been in vain ! 

" In other words, the reading of those beautiful lectures, 
with their fervent and glowing language, deep and pro- 
found reasoning, heart-searching appeals, and powerful 
illustrations, has awakened me to the stern, but deeply 
humiliating truth, that an existence of upwards of thirty 
years on this earth has been altogether unproductive, and 
worse than useless. 

"lama poor and comparatively uneducated artisan, and 
I should rejoice exceedingly to avail myself of any kind 
counsel and advice which one so eminently qualified as 
yourself may at any time be pleased to give me,* whereby 
I might be enabled to devote many of those ' leavings of 
days and remnants of hours' which have hitherto been 



" EXCELSIOR " FINISHED. 



467 



triflingly, and therefore uselessly, employed, to better and 
nobler objects. I rely upon your kindness and conde- 
scension to pardon my presumption in thus intruding upon 
your attention ; and beg to remain, with the deepest ad- 
miration and respect for all those exalted talents and 
graces which adorn your truly Christian character, your 
most humble and obedient servant, G. A. B — . 

" No. 3 Field St., Bagnigge Wells Road." 

A touching note from Lady Verney reveals at once her 
strong faith in God, and the confidence with which she 
could open her heart to Dr. Hamilton, as a minister of 
the Gospel and a fellow-disciple of Christ : — 

"Claydon, Oct. 27, 1856. 

" My deak De. Hamilton, — The black edge will tell 
you of our sorrow, but it is a poor emblem of the glory 
which illuminated our precious child's last moments. I 
used sometimes to think a sorrow was come which even 
God could not heal ; but He has given a balm which I 
could never have dared to ask or hope for, and I am not 
crushed. — Believe me, yours very truly, 

" Eliza Vekney." 

" Nbvertiber 28, 1856. — This week I sent the last mss. of 
Excelsior to press. It has been very little of a task— 
rather a pleasant companion, and a very acceptable source 
of income during these three years. I feel it a great 
mercy that never once has the publication of a number 
(and there have been thirty- six) been delayed by illness 
or any other cause. Of its 2700 pages, I have written 
483, or more than a sixth. The chief labour has been 



468 " EXCELSIOR " CORRESPONDENCE. 



correcting and condensing the contributions of some of 
our less practised authors, and corresponding with all and 
sundries. Of letters received I have preserved up to this 
date 992, and I have written more than that number. 

" I now stand committed to a new undertaking, which 
I believe I shall enjoy very much — Our Christian Classics. 
It must appear on January 1st, but not one word is yet 
written." 

Excelsior, a monthly magazine that started with the 
express intention of closing at the end of three years, and 
that kept its word, was now finished. It constitutes six 
beautiful little volumes, full of miscellaneous information, 
and besprinkled with exquisite pictorial illustrations. 
The thousand letters received in connexion with this work 
are bound in one neat volume, and labelled " Excelsior" 
in gold letters on the back. They constitute a cabinet of 
curiosities. It would be a very suitable book for lending 
to any gentleman who might be ambitious to become an 
editor. In particular, he seems to have had much trouble 
with an American story that, like a wounded snake, 
dragged its slow length along through many numbers of 
the magazine. The story was not destitute of merit, but 
the readers in some cases were destitute of patience, and 
the editor was dunned by requests, expressed sometimes 
with more energy than suavity, to cut the matter short. 
Calmly he held on his way, profiting by hints from every 
quarter, never losing his temper, and never slackening his 
effort until his task was done. 

The work that succeeded it, announced in the close of 
the letter, is totally different in character. It consists 



" OUR CHRISTIAN CLASSICS." 



469 



of specimens of religious writers in the English tongue, 
from the earliest times till the close of the eighteenth 
century, with notices, sometimes brief, sometimes very- 
full, of the writers, their circumstances, and their times. 
Our Christian Classics is a work fitted to fill a very im- 
portant place in English literature for a long time to come. 
It was a well-timed publication. In this age com- 
paratively few can possess the works of those worthies 
in bulk, and fewer could devote the time and atten- 
tion necessary for a profitable perusal of such a mass. 
It was necessary that a competent judge should make 
selections and introduce the authors. This has been 
done by a master's hand, and it will probably be long ere 
his work be antiquated. 

"London, Dec. 25, 1856. 

" My dear William, — ... By a letter from Claydon 
yesterday we find that Lady Verney is dying. She was 
at our November communion, and spent the interval with 
us, full of the happy death of her eldest daughter, who 
has only preceded her to heaven by two months. I have 
hardly ever known so much ability in a lady, yet 
thoroughly simple, feminine, and deeply pious." 

FROM SIR HARRY VERNEY. 

" Woodhall Park, Ware, Jan. 31, 1857. 

"My dear Dr. Hamilton, — I know that you will 
pardon the long delay which has intervened since you 
wrote to me on the 6th. Few can understand better than 
yourself how deep is the affliction that has fallen upon 
me, for you are one of those who could appreciate the 



470 



LADY VERNEY. 



remarkable and varied excellencies of her whom I have 
lost. If she was a delightful companion to her friends 
— a warm and able advocate of the cause that she believed 
to be right — a faithful and yet compassionate reprover of 
sin — a sympathizing friend of the distressed — a wise 
mistress to servants and dependants — a judicious and 
affectionate mother, what must she have been to her hus- 
band ? Suffice it to say, that she was a tower of strength 
and safety on which I leaned for twenty years and a half 
of happy married life, and that it has been the will of God 
to strike down this support, in order that I should lean 
upon Him alone. You knew her well enough to be aware 
that that is what she did. After our beloved daughter's 
death she wrote to an intimate friend, — ' I am unequal to 
the commonplaces of life, but alone with my Bible and 
my Saviour I enjoy perfect peace and in one of our last 
conversations, while she was in severe bodily suffering, 
and when her delicate and sensitive brain was beginning 
to be affected, she said to me, — ' What would it be if I 
had now to recollect any works of my own, or anything 
belonging to myself or others, I cannot even think, but I 
can rest firmly on the Eock and be at peace/ I expect 
about ten days hence to be settled in London, in a small 
house that I have taken for my daughter and myself, 
22 Eutland Gate, Hyde Park. She is something like her 
mother. I shall venture to take her to Euston Square 
some day, to introduce her to Mrs. Hamilton. Thanking 
you, my dear Dr. Hamilton, for your very kind recollection 
of me, and for your assurance of sympathy and condolence, 
I am, your very faithful and obliged, Harry Verney." 



DR. HAMILTON'S SERMONS. 



471 



Here occur two lively and. characteristic letters — date of 
the first uncertain — from a Wesleyan minister, distin- 
guished by his talents as well as by his name, the late 
Eev. William Bunting. Besides the objective interest of 
the subjects with which the letters deal, there is great 
subjective interest in observing the contact of two such 
minds in private, familiar, affectionate correspondence. 

Incidentally, it appears from the second letter that the 
question of sacred songs for use in public worship had, at 
that date, already deeply engaged Dr. Hamilton's atten- 
tion. Both his heart and his judgment are in this work. 
He laboured patiently in this cause amongst many diffi- 
culties, and was found still labouring in it when he was 
called hence. 

" Highgate Rise, Dec. 30. 

"My dear Friend, — Mr. West, according to his and 
other people's wont in exigencies of this kind, asks me 
first to direct the enclosed note, and then to accompany it 
by a little impertinence of my own. Your direction I do 
not know, and therefore trouble Mr. Nisbet. In my own 
urgency I have no faith, and therefore forbear to put it 
forth. All I will say is, that were I the fabricator and 
proprietor of a little library of MS. sermons such as yours, 
I should pray for life and leave (out of my own pulpit, if 
not in it) to preach each of them at least six times over. 
My lips would ' rejoice' in the very utterance of my own 
mind, and my ear, like the harper's, lean enamoured on 
my instrument. If you wish, then, to renew your enjoy - 
ment, as well as to extend your usefulness (in God's own 
chosen and incomparable way of preaching), unchain and 



472 



ORDINANCE OF PSALM-SINGING. 



liberate your gospel from yonder palatial court- yard in 
Eegent Square, and let it fly in the midst of heaven, 
alighting, if you please, on our beautiful temple at Liver- 
pool about the time of the Passover. 

" I am, was, and am likely to be, and my wife the same, 
yours, Mrs. Hamilton's, and your dear old mother's, ever 
affectionately, W. M. Bunting." 

"March 16, 1857. 

"Ever since Mr. Chalmers first mentioned to me the 
project of an enlarged supplement to your psalms, I have 
felt a deep interest in its success. I don't believe you 
yourselves (in consequence of venerable habits and pre- 
judices) are yet fully alive to the necessity and blessed- 
ness of such a provision for your much-awakened con- 
gregations, as a vehicle of Evangelical 'confession with 
the mouth unto salvation,' and as in response to such 
rock- smiting ministrations as yours of yesterday morning. 
I could have loved to point out to you, before it was too 
late, a few of Charles "Wesley's, nor of his alone, of the 
tender, penitential, petitionary, or promise-claiming, or 
Christ-embracing and exalting character I have in view. 

" These uninvited hints and utterances — a sort of umbrae 
at your study table — may bore, but I can scarcely think will 
offend you. I hope they come of a sincere care for ' souls ' 
(welcome poor Maurice's sarcasm and reproach), from 
daily and intimately communing with them up and down 
the country, and as much out of Methodism as within it, 
and from some emphatic experience of the blessing brought 
to afflicted or awakened souls by a judicious administra- 
tion of God's 'precious ordinance of psalm-singing. 



RICHARD WILLIAMS. 



473 



" I have left less room that I could have liked to thank 
you for Excelsior, and to express my regret, on almost 
every ground, that we are to have no more of it. I have 
heard it praised, sometimes before I have praised it my- 
self, extensively among our people ; and I have found no 
book, serial or otherwise, more handy or more useful for 
presentation to young friends of my own. Your own 
pulpit-contributions to it were, of course, always para- 
mount in interest to us — pleasant as was the science, and 
truly eclectic the poetry. 

" For Richard Williams, above all, I feel as if I never 
can appropriately thank you in time, but hope to glorify 
God in you and in him after a heavenly manner, and with 
a fervour more purely pious and adoring, if I should be 
permitted to meet you both in the better land. At pre- 
sent I cannot subdue a feeling of disappointment and 
pain (which I have expressed in many companies), that 
the Christian, and even the Wesleyan, public (as far as I 
can gather from curt reviews and from a flagging circula- 
tion) should have been so inadequately affected by that 
wonderful unfolding of the Holy Spirit's wisdom, gracious- 
ness, and energy, in the experience of a recent convert, 
literally 'beside himself unto God;' and by, secondly, 
that beautiful example, considering the country, con- 
nexions, and creed, of the biographer (I mean so different 
from those of the mystical English Methodist) of a truth- 
ful, tender, reverential, catholic, and wise spirit in dealing 
with these marvels of His grace. As uniting deep pathos 
with profound instruction in the things of God, I have 
placed Pdchard Williams along with Hewitson and the 



474 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR SWEDEN. 



Convict Ship, in the inner shrine of my heart. My father 
has much the same feeling of the rare value of that book. 

"W. M. Bunting." 

FROM AMOS LAUKENCE. 

" Boston, United States, April 4, 1857. 
" Eev. and dear Sir, — Your last year's lecture before 
the Young Men's Christian Association, entitled ' Literary 
Attractions of the Bible/ was handed over by me to the 
Eev. Seth Bliss, agent in this city for the American Tract 
Society, and through his kind attention the tract was 
republished, and is circulating through the length and 
breadth of our whole country, and is doing more, I think, 
to make the Bible common reading than anything lately 
published. Mr. Bliss visits Europe at this season, partly 
to recruit his health, and partly to impart information and 
obtain information of value to us all. May I ask for him 
your confidence, and thus make me your debtor still 
deeper than at present, Amos Laurence." 

FROM PAULINE WESLDAHL, A SWEDISH LADY. 

" Birmingham, May 30, 1857. 
" My dear Sir, — Availing myself of your kind allow- 
ance, I feel most happy to take up my pen to ask you 
not only 'one important' question, but another and still 
another, till I am afraid their number will increase just 
in proportion to my confidence. When leaving my own 
dear country for another, of which the literature in gene- 
ral, and its sacred in particular, has become most dear to 
myself, I felt delighted in the prospect of meeting with 



CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FOR SWEDEN. 475 

an author to whom I felt especially indebted ; yet it was 
not only to gratify my own feelings, but still more for the 
benefit of my countrymen, that I ventured to intrude on his 
most precious time by calling and asking for his opinion 
as to the choice of religious writings most suitable to 
be introduced to the educated among them. Now, my 
dear sir, considering that question to be partly answered 
by The Lamp and the Lantern (for the translation of 
which I am just preparing), I next venture to ask for 
your highly- valued advice as to that plan of mine already 
hinted, to presenting to the 'nobles' and 'high cultivated' 
some substantial object to be considered in the very light 
of that Lamp, viz., short biographies of celebrated indi- 
viduals, eminent not only for piety, but for uniting to it 
science, talent, and taste. Nothing, I am sure, can be more 
seriously wanted, where there is plenty of good work 
going on for the spiritual benefit of the people, but very 
little is found, indeed, to attract that ' nobility ' and those 
j high cultivated,' whose views in the light of the Bible 
are really most poor and wretched, and spiritually want- 
ing. Having been myself brought up among them, I am 
able, I daresay, to judge of their state as a most pitiful 
one ; and by the grace of the Lord my heart is burning 
within me to give to them just what they were not able 
to give to me ! . . ." 

"48 Eustw Square, Dec. 1, 1857. 

" My dear William, — ... On Sat.irday I went 
down to Wigan to re- open our church there, and got 
through such a jolly lot of reading on the road, going and 
returning, and there, nearly the half of South's Sermons, 



476 



ROTATORY READING-ROOMS. 



and no end of collections of proverbs. There were people 
in the train both ways with whom I might have been 
obliged to make or renew acquaintance, but I lay perdu. 
Next to the British Museum there is nothing comparable 
to these rotatory reading-rooms, which give you at once 
fresh air and uninvaded leisure." 

The result of this reading in collections of proverbs 
was an interesting paper on the subject in the North 
British Review, February 1858. 



CHAPTEE XI. 



1858-1863. 

"48 Euston Square, June 18, 1858. 

" My deae Andrew, — . . . This week I am in deep 
but selfish sorrow, owing to the death of Mr. Pierce 
Seaman. A slight and painless illness ended in his 
exchanging this world for a better on Sabbath evening. 
He was in some respects my dearest and most congenial 
friend. Natural sciences, old books, the successive sea- 
sons, the shrines of our English worthies, — we went into 
everything much the same, and had many a delightful day 
together. With Christian Classics he helped me greatly, 
and I had always on hand a quantity of his rare old 
books. On Sabbath se'nnight I was at Eochester, preach- 
ing the funeral sermon of Dr. Jenkyn, late of Coward 
College, and last Sabbath I was at Glasgow, introducing 
to Free St. James's our late Chinese missionary, Mr. 
James Johnston. Last Saturday I spent at Woodville, 
Morningside, with Miss M. Wilson, and your old play- 
fellow, her cousin, Henrietta. I have undertaken to com- 
pile a short memoir of Mr. James Wilson. He was a fine 
character, and I have got some nice materials. Preaching 
in Glasgow, some old Strathblanians came up to me after 



478 



SCRIPTURE BOTANY. 



the service, — "Walter Buchanan, James Wingate, and 
' Jimmy Graham/ the weaver. This last I had not seen 
for thirty years." 

" London, Feb. 22, 1858. 

" My deak William, — ... I sympathize with your 
enjoyment of Motley. It is the last big book I read 
through. It was in May '56, when I had the luxury of a 
fortnight's invalidism. It is a great mercy that I have 
never once been unable to get ready my monthly quota 
for the printer during these four years and upwards. 
Beforehand I could not have counted on such unbroken 
health." 

" London, Feb. 25, 1858. 
" To-day I have been writing articles for Prof. Fair- 
bairn's Biblical Dictionary, beginning at the beginning, 
tiU now I have nothing in my head but almonds and 
apples, aloes and algum-trees. My heart rather fails 
when I think of going through the whole alphabet." 

He contributed all the botanical articles in that im- 
portant work. 

" 48 Euston Square, May 1, 1858. 
" My dear Andkew, — . . . This winter has brought 
out a good many books, of which the rumour sometimes 
reaches me, but I have had no chance to read them — 
Froude's History of Henry vin. (a vindication), Cardinal 
Wiseman's Recollections of the last Four Popes, Hogg's Life 
of Shelley, young Buckland's Recreations in Natural His- 
tory. But even my old refuge, the omnibus, is no longer 
a reading-room. I have to take into it proof-sheets, or 



MES. HAMILTON ABEOAD. 



479 



old volumes of divinity, to read up for my Christian 
Classics. I have reached the silk- worm's spinning stage 
— sheer straightforward production, with a farewell to all 
the earlier joys of feasting and digesting. This 1st of 
May reminds me of it pathetically, when we used to get 
back to the green pastures. I usually read thirty or forty 
volumes every summer." 

This season it became necessary that Mrs. Hamilton 
and one of the children should proceed to the baths at 
Spa for the benefit of their health, but his engagements at 
home rendered it impossible that he should accompany 
them. Mrs. Hamilton, in company with Mrs. M'Laren, a 
very affectionate friend, similarly situated with herself, 
accomplished the journey in safety, took the baths with 
much benefit, and in due time returned. In the mean- 
time the absence of his wife became the occasion of a very 
lively correspondence : — 

"Clevedon, June 9, 1858, 4 p.m. 

" My deaeest Annie, — Here I am in safety, without any 
particular incident. Very warm ride, till Somersetshire, 
where it is both bright and breezy. I hope it will be as 
good a day to-morrow. I shall be anxious to hear of your 
voyage, — for that is to my imagination the only disagree- 
able feature of the journey. I look upon this opportunity 
for you as a most kind and happy Providence. 

" As an additional therapeutic influence, I would gladly 
have superadded my agreeable society, but as that cannot 
be, I shall keep you company in thought and good wishes 
and prayers. I know that you would have liked to have 



480 



A BEIGHT SUMMER. 



me to the bargain, but (with that exception) could there 
have been a nicer arrangement ? Even the Passover was 
to be eaten with bitter herbs, and all our mercies here 
must have a small abatement ; but our happiness, and a 
great deal of our duty to God — our piety — consists in be- 
ing very thankful and hopeful and cheerful if, on the 
whole, we have more good than evil. There 's a sermon 
without intending one. 

" My beloved Annie, you will make me happy by en- 
joying yourself to the utmost. This is your business at 
Spa, to ride on donkeys, and drink iron, and wear a broad 
brim, and laugh as much as you can, and come back, you 
and Marisabel, as broad as you are long, and as brown as 
the iron baths themselves. The good Lord go with you, 
and keep you and your kind fellow-travellers in all your 
ways. — Your ever affectionate husband, 

" James Hamilton." 

" 48 Euston Square, London, 
June 15, 1858. 

" Started on Friday morning at eight from Bristol for 
Edinburgh by way of Birmingham, and got to Alva Street 
at half -past ten. Nothing could exceed the radiance of 
summer life all along the route ; white mounds and red of 
blossomed May; the golden laburnum lamps in their 
green pavilions. Then, close to the line a perfect snow of 
ox-eye daisies, or a long yellow flash of unbroken broom, 
with hay and bean-field whiffs ever and anon wafted in. 
Should this be my last summer on the earth, I think I 
could testify elsewhere that I had never in my day known 
it come so near to Paradise. On Saturday morning I 



FUNERAL OF DE. BUNTING. 



481 



went out to Woodville, where Dr. Greville kindly came to 
meet me, and spent the day till lunch looking over dear 
James Wilson's papers, and talking with his niece and 
daughter. A very pleasant retreat is Woodville, with its 
shade and its singing birds, — a fit home for a naturalist." 

" 48 Euston Square, London, 
June 23, 1858. 

" Yesterday was Dr. Bunting's funeral. It took place in 
the City Eoad Chapel, beside the graves of Wesley, Flet- 
cher, Benson, Adam Clarke, Bichard Watson, and all the 
renowned fathers of Wesleyan Methodism, among whom 
there was none greater than Jabez Bunting, — none who 
combined so well the preacher, the Christian statesman, 
and the man of God. It was a long service. One prayer 
occupied fifty minutes (even in Scotland I never knew 
anything to match it). But an address by Dr. Leif child 
was very affecting. He is seventy-eight, and Dr. Bunting 
was eighty ; and now the friendship of half a century is 
dissolved for a little while — but only for a little. The 
most impressive, part of the service was the singing of 
'these two verses, — 

' that each in the day of his coming may say, 
" I have fought my way through ; 
I have finished the work Thou didst give me to do." 

that each from his Lord may receive the glad word, 

" Well and faithfully done ! 
Enter into My joy and sit down on My throne." ' 

I left this at half-past ten and was not home again till 
five. I should add that there was an excellent sketch of 

2 H 



482 



PROFESSOR OF ELOCUTION. 



the venerable worthy by Mr. Scott. The chapel was 
crowded. I hope William Bunting will write a life of his 
father. It would be a far worthier employment for a 
coming year or two, than those numberless good-natured 
services on which he disperses all his exquisite taste and 
great abilities. The writing long letters of comfort to in- 
consolable, because dyspeptic, correspondents ; the editing 
of books for people who are anxious to publish without 
being able to write, inditing poems for albums, and all that 
sort of thing, by which the devil under false pretences 
cheats clever but kind-hearted men out of the time which 
was given them for serving God and their generation. I 
told him something of this yesterday, and he retorted by 
telling me that I was meant to be a preacher, and had 
gone aside into authorship. If I could persuade myself 
that I am as well adapted for speaking as writing, I would 
even yet abjure the press for the pulpit. But what with 
weakness, nervousness, an ungainly manner, and inability 
to rely on myself, I hardly think so." 

Somewhere about this date, while assisting him for a 
week or two in his ministry, and enjoying the hospitality 
of his house, I incidentally learned that he had paid a fee 
of five guineas to an American Professor of Elocution, and 
was diligently submitting to drill with the view of im- 
proving his articulation, and the modulation of his voice. 
One evening while we were engaged in conversation, at 
the ringing of the door-bell he suddenly started to his 
feet, and delivering his apology with a combination of 
look and gesture altogether peculiar to himself, — an 



EFFORTS TO OVERCOME DEFECTS. 483 



earnest purpose underneath, and a child-like comic smile 
mantling over it, — tripped with a hop, step, and jump 
away to his lesson. Under cover of a lightsome, spark- 
ling, humorous evolution he betook himself to serious 
work, that, if it were possible, he might acquire, on one 
side, additional power to serve the Lord and edify his 
congregation. 

Alas ! it was an unequal conflict against a defect that 
lay in his constitution. It was a spirit at once conse- 
crated and buoyant, contending against the weakness of 
his physical frame. Nor was it the case of a man who 
was blind to his own deficiency, because it was his own ; 
he was well aware of the physical feebleness, but he did 
not fold his hands and yield to it as inevitable. He never 
took refuge in the sluggard's plea. At a comparatively 
advanced age he went to school again with the humility 
as well as pliability of a little child, on the presenta- 
tion of a dim possibility that his power of delivering a 
message to a large assembly might yet be somewhat in- 
creased. 

In connexion with the lack of muscular power in those 
organs on which oratory mainly depends, it is interesting 
to notice his experience as recorded by himself, that he 
was always in a glow of happiness at his study on Satur- 
day, — but that this brightness almost uniformly gave way 
to a measure of despondency during the actual ministra- 
tions of the Sabbath. In the one department, he was 
strong; and the strong man, as usual, rejoiced in his 
strength ; in the other department he was comparatively 
weak, and consequently was grieved with what he ac- 



484 



DR. HAMILTON AS A PREACHER. 



counted partial failure. In mental resources and acquire- 
ments lie was possessed of great wealth; but in the 
capacity to utter his thoughts, with all the variation of 
tone and key which their nature required, yet so as to be 
throughly heard in a great edifice, he was far less gifted. 
In this department, accordingly, he was always pained by 
a conscious shortcoming from his own ideal. It is cer- 
tain that lack of vocal force, and ready control over his 
intonations, largely detracted from the power and popu- 
larity of his preaching. It is the belief of the most in- 
telligent observers that if his enunciation had been in 
force and fineness equal to that of some who were con- 
fessedly far behind him in mental gifts, he would have 
been one of the most attractive preachers of the day. In 
delicacy of conception, in the happy choice of idioms, in 
the command of striking and original imagery, and in the 
glow of evangelical fervour that pervaded all, he had few 
equals. These rare qualities, however, were shorn of half 
their strength, in as far as his public preaching was con- 
cerned, by the necessity under which he constantly lay 
of straining to make himself audible, by standing on his 
tip-toes, and throwing out his words in handfuls, if so be 
they might reach the far-distant aisles. If the muscles 
of his chest had been such as to enable him to stand 
solidly at ease, while his lips performed the task of arti- 
culation without the aid of auxiliary blasts from over- 
inflated lungs, James Hamilton would certainly have 
been followed by greater crowds, and obtained access for 
his message to a wider and more varied circle. But we 
do not know what counter-balancing evil might have 



FRUITS, 



485 



come in along with such external success. Although 
with all his prayers and pains this thorn was still left 
in the flesh, the grand compensation remained : " My grace 
is sufficient for thee ; My strength is perfect in thy weak- 
ness." What talents the Lord saw meet to bestow, he 
laid out with marvellous skill and diligence in the Giver's 
service; and if some other talents were withheld, the 
Withholder knows why. He hath done all things well. 

On the whole, James Hamilton, as a preacher, was to 
a large extent the reverse of the class whose delivery 
hides the defects and sets off the good qualities of common- 
place thought ; it was the thought, at once solid and spark- 
ling, that caught and carried the audience away in a rush, 
in spite of a considerable tendency to jolting in the vocal 
vehicle that bore it. 

TO HIS WIFE. 

"48 Euston Square, June 15, 1858. 
"... Coming in afterwards with Mr. Henderson of 
Claremont Chapel, he mentioned an instance of the use- 
fulness of Life in Earnest, which I was very thankful to 
hear. When it first came oat he was acquainted with a 
very clever young lady, a Miss G — , at K — in Ireland ; 
but she was quite careless and thoughtless. She was 
a great reader of novels. Mr. Henderson asked her if 
she would not read a religious book, if he were to lend 
her one ? She said, No, she could not read such books, 
they were so dull. He said that she was quite mistaken ; 
that some of them contained a great deal of the poetry 
and description that she was so fond of; and he repeated 



486 REMINISCENCE OF A BRIGHT SEASON. 

to her two passages which, he had committed to memory 
out of the first lecture in Life in Earnest. She said at 
once that if he would lend it, she would read that book. 
She did read it, and from one thing to another there came 
an entire change over her pursuits. She became a de- 
cided Christian, and is now married to a husband like- 
minded ; she has written a number of attractive papers 
in Household Words and other periodicals." 

" 4 Archery Villas, St. Leonard's, 
Sept. 1858. 

" I can recollect the summer of 1826, with its profusion 
of sunshine and its long, long weeks of cloudless weather, 
drying up at last the burn at Strathblane, and leaving the 
trout in isolated pools to the mercy of the crows and school- 
boys. Mght after night we lay down independent of 
blankets ; and morning after morning rose up relying on 
the returning of the sunshine. That season has made an 
indelible impression on my memory, and promises to be 
' a joy for ever.' It was amidst its light and heat that the 
poetic temperament of Eobert Pollok culminated, and that, 
little suspected by his prosaic neighbours, he was com- 
pleting the Course of Time on the hills of his native 
Eenfrewshire. This season has not been less wonderful. 
In the end of May and beginning of June there was a 
profusion of blossom such as I have never witnessed ; and 
since then, with the occasional interruption of a refreshful 
shower, there has been no break in the brightness of the 
atmosphere, but the evenings have been so enchanting 
that it was a hardship to go to bed, and the mornings so 



DEATH OP DAVID SANDEMAN. 



487 



dazzling that it seemed a sin to lie still. Even London 
felt the influence, and many a time I felt as if Euston 
Square were perfectly beautiful But it was our happiness 
to spend six weeks at Hadleigh ; from the 15th of June 
to the 25th of July, and the last fortnight here. Towards 
this place I have always a homeward feeling, and Hadleigh 
was made unusually pleasant by the society of Mr. and 
Mrs. M'Laren, who, in kindness, intelligence, and con- 
geniality of taste, are all that I could wish friends to be. 
And now that the wonderful spring has rushed into an 
autumn of unwonted profusion, with wife and children 
well, with health better than it has been for many years, 
and with some indications of a blessing on the ministry, 
I feel that, if I were now called away, it would be from 
the very zenith of earthly happiness. I can never hope 
to see a lovelier season than the summer now ended. I 
dare not ask for greater mercies than the Giver of all good 
is at this moment bestowing. 

"My holiday has lasted forty days. Besides writing 
two sermons, I have prepared for the press two numbers 
of Christian Classics, a series of papers on the Psalms for 
the Sunday at Home, and new editions of the Royal 
Preacher and Emblems from Eden. My reading has been 
of a very easy kind." 

The course of the devoted Sandeman on the mission 
field was short. His spirit brought and kept earth near 
to heaven while life lasted, and it pleased the Lord soon 
to blot out the little interval that remained, and take him 
altogether home. Dr. Hamilton writes to his sister : — 



488 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MISSIONARY, 



"48 Euston Square, London, 
Oct. 6, 1858. 

" My dear Mes. Baeboue, — Your beloved brother was 
so much more a citizen of heaven than of earth, that I 
cannot think your feeling at his translation will be like 
the common kinds of sorrow. At least after the first 
consternation of the unlooked-for tidings, the prevailing 
feeling with myself was thankfulness for his abundant 
entrance into the glorious kingdom. I have hardly ever 
seen any one with whom it was more entirely ' to live is 
Christ.' Bright, happy, and full of love, his career seemed 
always to be ' from strength still forward unto strength 
and at the last stage of all it is delightful to know how 
entirely death was swallowed up in victory. No one 
could have his own affections less set on the things of 
earth, and yet no one drew more affection towards him- 
self. In his short stay here he gained all hearts. On the 
day that he went away he went down to the kitchen and 
took leave of the servants, spoke to them a few kind and 
earnest words, and gave each of them a book. They are 
still with us ; and when at family worship on Monday 
morning I read the letter from Amoy, they all were 
weeping — children, servants, and all. To the little Chris- 
tina (whom he would not baptize) he left a beautiful 
Bible, which is now very sacred. Mrs. Hamilton keeps 
it as he left it, in the papers addressed by his own 
hand. I hope the prayers will be answered which he 
offered for her. I do not think we can call the dispensa- 
tion a dark one. He wished to serve Christ, and he is 
promoted to higher service than he hoped for; and he 



AND CONSOLATION TO HIS MOTHER. 



489 



wished to benefit China: and the affecting circumstances 
of his death are likely to awaken more interest, and I 
would even expect are likely to draw out more mis- 
sionaries, than any living appeal could have done. Even 
his dear and much-tried mother, towards whom so much 
sympathy now turns, — the Comforter will sustain her ; and 
where the hope is so full of immortality, it is less of a 
separation than what took place when he set out from 
home two years ago. With affectionate regards to Mr. 
Barbour, and with many tender but pleasant memories of 
his last visit to London, I remain, dear Mrs. Barbour, 
most truly yours, James Hamilton." 

to HIS wife. 

" County {I.e., Eailway) Hotel, 
Caklisle, Jan. 10, 1S59. 
" Yesterday morning I got up at six, and finished a 
sermon on ' Take no thought for the morrow.' Having a 
very deep root of melancholy in my nature, I am fond of 
such subjects, for then I preach sermons useful to myself. 
With a most clear and joyful confidence in the wisdom 
and love of Him who 1 doeth all things well/ I am con- 
stantly haunted with special anxieties or obscure mis- 
givings and depressions. And so I feel sometimes the 
better for such a sermon as yesterday's. Professor Leone 
Levi came to dinner (Mrs. Levi has lost her mother), and 
so did Dr. De la Porte from Swatow. After half-an-hour's 
sleep I went and saw Mr. Hill, who has rallied a little; 
then came home and finished my lecture for the evening 
on China. Delivered it ; had supper with Annie and her 



490 



DEPARTED JOYS. 



cousin ; then to sleep. The incident of this day's journey 
was a wonderful sunset. We had reached Kendal when 
it began. The mountains of Westmoreland and Cumber- 
land were covered with clouds very solid and massive- 
looking ; above was open sky, filmed over with flakes of 
vapour and fleecy stragglers. This upper portion was 
every tint of glory, from saffron to the rosiest red ; below 
it looked as if immense piles of snow were drenched with 
port wine, or some rich empurpling colour, which intensi- 
fied as it receded from the centre of beauty, and became 
inky black to the northward." 

"Woodvtlle, Edinburgh, Jan. 14, 1859. 

" My dear Annie, — Yesterday I paid a good many 
visits, and heard Professor Aytoun give a lecture to his 
rhetoric class. The subject was 'Virgil/ and was one of 
the greatest treats I have ever enjoyed, reminding me, 
however, of departed joys, departed never to return.' 
But I need not grudge them. Classical enjoyments 
are not the greatest after all. In the evening there 
was a dinner-party here. Professor George Wilson, Pro- 
fessor Fraser and his wife, and a few others. But I had 
to leave them in the middle, and go and address a prayer- 
meeting on behalf of China at St. Luke's. 

"48 Euston Square, Jan. 31, 1859. 

" My dear Andrew, — My visit to Scotland was a short 
one. I left this on Monday, Jan. 1 0, spent Tuesday at 
Jardine Hall, Dumfries-shire (Sir Wm. Jardine's), and the 
three following days at Woodville. 



KEY. DH. STEANE. 



491 



" I have just finished off a variety of little literary jobs, 
and to-day I begin James Wilson in earnest. After that 
I fondly hope to escape from further work of the kind for 
a long time to come. I am tired of task-work. What 
with the Presbyterian Messenger, Excelsior, and Christian 
Classics, I have had a monthly periodical in hand for the 
last eight years, and, superadded to my weekly prepara- 
tions, it leaves no leisure for my dearly loved Dutch, and 
for books which I am burning to read." 

FKOM J)R. STEAKE. 

" Camberwell, July 5, 1859. 

" Dear Dr. Hamilton, — What can I do to minister to 
your comfort next Lord's day, when you are to preach for 
my colleague ? Will you come and dine with us ? Will 
you come after dinner and take a cup of tea ? Will you 
like a quiet hour in my library before going to the pulpit ? 
Will you bring Mrs. Hamilton with you, and afford us the 
pleasure of her company as well as of your own ? Will 
you come and take a turn in my garden after the services 
of the day are over, and then a family meal, — of all meals 
on the Sabbath to me the most enjoyable, with a friend ? 
When, let me speak it reverently, ' the burden of the 
Lord ' has been delivered, and the solemn responsibility 
has been discharged, however inadequately, the mind re- 
laxes, and the heart dilates and becomes at once receptive 
and communicative, and so tries to give pleasure, and is 
sure to receive it. In short, only feel that for the occa- 
sion my house will be what my heart always is, ready and 
delighted to welcome you, and to render you any service 



492 RENOVATION OF REGENT SQUARE. 



in its owner's power. We all unite in kindest regards to 
you both ; and believe me, dear Dr. Hamilton, yours in 
Christian brotherhood, Edward Steane. 

" P.S. — Let me allure you by just adding that 'the 
Englishwoman in America ' will be my guest, and that I 
should rejoice, if ■ you do not know each other already, 
that you should meet here." 

The project of acquiring and repairing Eegent Square 
Church is ripening now : — 

TO MR. WATSON. 

" Barnard's Green, Great Malvern, 
Aug. 5, 1859. 

" My dear Friend, — I cannot tell you how much I am 
obliged to you for seeing Mr. Gibson on Monday, and 
bringing matters to a point. I was really coming to fear 
that we should need to spend another winter as we are ; 
and it was with difficulty that I quelled an inward revolt 
and rebellion, and brought myself to feel that I could 
acquiesce, if needful, in that most undesirable alternative. 
Perhaps I am to blame in not doing more personally to 
accelerate matters ; but besides an anxiety to keep step 
with others, and not seem to outrun more cautious and 
deliberate brethren, I have felt (not this summer only, 
but all these eight years) a delicacy in urging forward a 
consummation in which my own comfort and advantage 
were so much concerned." 

"Barnard's Green, August 10, 1859. 
" My dear Friend, — Whether or not I entered into an 
actual covenant with the Session not to preach during this 



PETITION FOE LIBERTY TO WORK. 



493 



holiday, I have erred on the safe side, and have refused 
very many applications. But there are two (or rather 
three) cases for which I incline to ask a dispensation : — 

* 1. Mr. Turner, whose little chapel we attend, a vener- 
able man of God, who originated all the good that has 
been clone in this neighbourhood, — his anniversary is in 
the end of this month, and he has begged a week-day ser- 
mon. Lady Pine tells me his income is about £70 a year, 
and as a good deal of this depends on the anniversary, I 
would gladly help him if I could. 

* 2 and 3. Our friends the G-unns of Warminster (Mrs, 
Gunn was a Miss Wills) want us to visit them, and wish 
me to baptize a little Gunn, who is to be named after me. 
ISTow it woidd be very ungracious to refuse, and if I do 
this, I do not see how I can refuse a request from my old 
friends of the Bristol Tabernacle to preach the London Mis- 
sionary Society sermon during that visit. I have a warm 
side to Bristol, where, in my early clays, I met with much 
kindness, and where a goodly measure of the right spirit 
still survives from the days of Thorpe, Hall, and Eylanci 

" ISTow you will see some of the fathers and brethren 
to-morrow evening. Beg of them to take the foregoing 
into their favourable consideration, and please to communi- 
cate the result, that I may relieve from their painful sus- 
pense my esteemed correspondents. — Believe me, ever 
affectionately yours, J. BLa3HLTOX." 

" Baexaed's Geeex, Geeat aTalterx, 
August 13, 1S59. 

" We usually draw off the water from the fish-tank with 
a syphon, which will be found under the tank. But if 



494 



ILLNESS OF HIS SON. 



Janet is not up to the manipulation of the syphon, it will 
be quite enough to ladle off with a cup or jug a pailful of 
water once a week, and replace it with fresh water. The 
carp and gold-fishes will eat fine crumbs of bread, but they 
will also make shift without them. The roach will be 
very thankful for a few flies. He is the only one who is 
afflicted with fierceness of appetite. 

" Payson's works will be a great acquisition, and if you 
will kindly forward them to Euston Square, I shall carry 
them off on the next occasion. It is a book I should like 
to possess, for from the feelings with which I read his Life 
five-and-twenty years ago, there is an interest in all he 
wrote. But those sermons which I have read are not so 
striking as one would have expected." 

" Barnard's Green, August 15, 1859. 
" My deae Friend, — Our poor boy's illness turns out 
(as I inwardly feared from the first) diphtheria of a very 
formidable kind. Yesterday we were obliged to remove 
the others to lodgings in the town, and although the fever 
is much abated, the state of the throat is very bad. We 
have a most kind medical attendant in Dr. Grindrod ; it 
is a great comfort to have our own servants with us ; an- 
other comfort to have Lady Pirie so near ; but the greatest 
comfort of all is, that the dear child is in the hands of One 
who loves him better than ourselves. Although she has 
had nearly three days and nights of exertion without 
sleep, poor Annie holds out, — for she is held up. We have 
been enabled to give him completely up to God's own wise 
and holy will, and through His own great mercy have been 



" MOSES, THE MAN OF GOD." 



495 



kept from rebellious thoughts. At a time like this, His 
consolations are unspeakably precious. 

" I know how much your own and dear Mrs. Watson's 
hearts are with us, and that we shall have your prayers for 
help in time of need. — Your ever affectionate, 

" J. Hamilton." 

To Mr. Arnot he writes on Sept. 16, 1859 : — "Towards 
Palestine I have no propension. I have read about it 
so much, and have seen it through so many eyes better 
than my own, that I should hope nothing from actual 
survey." 

"48 Euston Square, Oct. 21, 1859. 

" My deae William, — To-day we have been three weeks 
at home. I have begun a course of lectures on Sabbath 
evening on the History of Moses. This necessitates me 
to prepare two discourses; and as the lecture on Moses 
takes me three days to study, I find myself up to the full- 
pressure point." 

TO EEV. H. M. GUNN. 

"London, Nov. 7, 1859. 
" My deae Me. Gunn, — Five weeks (including six Sab- 
baths) have fled away since we took leave of Wiltshire, 
with its breezy downs and its beloved friends. You will 
now have a little more leisure for your studies, without 
the daily interruption of your idle neighbours, and we try 
to console ourselves for our banishment back to town by 
thinking how the leaves will be falling on Coss-Heap, and 
how, by reason of these awful hurricanes, Shearwater will 



496 



THE MANIFOLD GOSPEL. 



have ceased to be navigable. We have never spent a 
month more purely in recreation, or more pleasantly, and 
we neither wish nor hope for anything more delightful 
than the holiday at Warminster. 

" I have no doubt that your exegesis of ' poor in spirit ' 
is right. What a boundless theme is that sermon ! I 
remember in the Presbytery of Edinburgh some one ob- 
jected to the discourse of a candidate for license that 'it 
did not contain the Gospel ;' and old Dr. Gilchrist retorted, 
'I believe that if the Sermon on the Mount had been 
preached as a trial sermon before this Presbytery, it would 
have been rejected.' But I suspect the real truth is that 
the Gospel was never absent when the Lord Jesus was 
present. We have verbal Gospels, like John iii. 1 6 ; and 
dramatic Gospels, like the Lord's Supper ; and there once 
was a living Gospel, the good- will of God incarnate in 
the person of His Son (John i. 17, 12, etc.) In other 
words, with His manifestation of the Divine disposition 
towards sinners, the greatest of Gospels was the Lord 
Jesus Himself; or in other words still, to this and all 
His sermons there was an evangelical element superadded 
in the mien and bearing of the Divinely-commissioned 
and benevolent Speaker. James Hamilton." 

"London, Feb. 13, 1860. 

" My dear Mr. Gunn, — . . . You need not look out 
for my 1 reviews ' in the Patriot. My literary eclipse is 
total. There is not even the faintest annulus of illumi- 
nated surface remaining ; and I cannot tell what a luxury 
it " is to relapse into this comparative leisure. To write 
two sermons a week I do not find oppressive, as I often 



EKASMUS. 



497 



did when I had in hand Excelsior and Christian Classics. 
I have even bought Opera Omnia Erasmi, in eleven 
folios, and begun to read it through. 

"Henry Wills was interested in our live stock. He 
will be happy to hear that the parrakeets are pretty well. 
The dormouse escaped on Saturday se'nnight, but was 
found in a trap which I set for him this morning, alive 
but very hungry. The lizard lived on till the first of 
December, by which time flies had become exorbitantly 
dear. That evening, as he was taking a walk in the 
library, some one trod on his head and he died on the 
spot." 

"London, March 5, 1860. 
" My deae William, — . . . Eeading together (Annie 
and I) A Life for a Life, we were so much pleased with it, 
that I wrote a note thanking the writer, a thing which I 
never remember to have done before. I had a nice hearty 
note in return from Miss Mulock, saying that she was 
once a Eegent Square hearer. I once met her at Mrs. 
Oliphant's, but cannot recall her. I forget whether I told 
you that I had been guilty of the great extravagance of 
buying Erasmus (£7). But he is capital reading, and 
'cut and come again.' The release from editorial labour 
makes me feel quite rich in leisure, and besides writing 
my two sermons a week (one always on the life and times 
of Moses), I do read a good deal." 

The Synod assembles in Sunderland this year : in an 
interval of business a winged messenger is despatched to 
carry a pleasant thought home : — 

2 i 



498 



THE PURCHASE AND REPAIR, 



" Sukderlak d, April 18, 1860. 

" My dearest Annie, — After four hours' discussion, we 
have just got through the Foreign Mission Keport, and so, 
being released for a few minutes, I devote them to you. 
Often, in the din of the debate, I take swifter wings than 
those of a dove, and find myself in my dear nest at home. 
I wish, too, that it were as natural to me to take these 
wings and fly away to another home, of which, although 
we have never yet been there, a good deal has been told us, 
and which will by and by be far dearer to us than Euston 
Square has ever been. We are getting on very pleasantly. 
There has been no outbreak of temper or bad feeling." 

Early in 1860, measures were finally taken for bringing 
to an issue all questions relating to the tenure of the 
Church. At the period of the Disruption in 1843, a debt 
of £5000 was attached to the building. As a matter of 
course, the Session and Congregation made no effort to 
reduce this burden while any uncertainty remained re- 
garding their title to the property. Eor a period of seven- 
teen years this state of matters remained unchanged. At 
length, however, it became necessary to execute extensive 
repairs. But the same reason that withheld them from 
extinguishing the debt, withheld them also from repairing 
the fabric until it should be determined whether the pro- 
perty were legally their own. As the only method of 
solving the difficulty, the church was exposed to sale by 
the mortgagee, and bought for the congregation at a price 
not much greater than the amount of the encumbrance. 1 

1 The conditions of the trust-deed were very carefully fulfilled. Besides ad- 



OF REGENT SQUARE CHURCH. 



499 



Having secured an unchallengeable title, the congregation 
proceeded to repair and improve their much-loved church. 
On examination, it was found that, owing to defects in the 
original construction of the roof, and a tendency to decay 
in the external surface of the towers, a much larger sum 
would be required than was at first contemplated. After 
many delays, the work was at length executed in the 
autumn of 1860. The cost, including the mortgage, 
£5000, and a handsome lecture-hall, £1000, amounted, 
inclusive of interest, to £14,083, 5s. 2d. The bulk of this 
sum was subscribed at the time, and the balance, through 
sundry efforts of zealous members, was finally cleared off 
in the close of 1864. 

While the church was undergoing these extensive re- 
pairs the minister obtained a holiday. By medical advice, 
he spent it chiefly at German baths. 

TO MR. WATSON 

" Homburg, August 3, 1860. 
"My dear Friend,— On Wednesday last, who should 
turn up at table- d'hdte but Professor Miller ! He 'took 
stock' of me after dinner, and pronounced me ready for 
Schwalbach, and, what I was sorry to hear, in need of it. 
As this implies my not getting home till the end of the 
month, I was scarcely inclined to acquiesce, especially as 
we are most comfortably settled here, and had planned to 

vertisements of the intended sale in the newspapers, notices were sent to the 
Moderator and Clerk of the General Assembly, and to Dr. John Ciimrning of 
London. The fullest opportunity was given to the authorities of the Estab- 
lished Church to come forward and pay the mortgagee. If they had chosen to 
do so, in all probability their claim to the property would not have been 
resisted. 



500 



PROFESSOR MILLER. 



return with my brother on this day fortnight. However, 
yesterday I went into Frankfort to consult Dr. Spiess, the 
most famous physician in Germany. I found him what 
I was prepared to expect, a solid and masterly man, with 
quick, keen insight, and great good sense ; and in a few 
minutes he pronounced for Schwalbach. This is what 
Dr. Williams recommended before I came away ; but I 
hoped that after this fortnight at Homburg I should need 
nothing else. Now, however, there seems no help for it. 
' In for a penny, in for a pound.' 

"Professor Miller's company is itself an immense 
attraction. 

"As we were cheated out of Mr. Noel's services last 
Sabbath, we got up a sermon on Wednesday evening, his 
last evening here, and had an overflowing congregation. 
The address was delightful, — quiet, and conversational, on 
the woman with the alabaster box of ointment." 

He was captivated by Professor Miller : they were 
kindred spirits. That beloved physician, too, has been 
early taken away from a world that seemed to need him. 
With Professor Miller and Baptist Noel and James 
Hamilton, besides "honourable women not a few," the 
English community at Homburg that season were favoured 
with some choice Christian society. 

" Langenschwalbaoh, 
Black Bartholomew's Day, Aug. 24, I860. 

" My dear William, — . . . Our own plan was to go 
on Monday next ; but Professor Miller is so peremptory 
for another week, that I suppose we must remain till 



REOPENING OF THE CHUKCH. 



501 



Monday, Sept. 3. On Friday we forgathered with Profes- 
sor Blackie, who had that day finished his translation of 
Homer. He took us up to his sanctum, and read a speci- 
men, which I thought remarkably fine. It is in fourteen 
syllabic lines, a sort of ballad metre. Then leaving 
Andrew to be picked up by the Wiesbaden Diligence, we 
came home again. 

"On Friday our colony received an accession in Mr. 
and Mrs. Main from Edinburgh. Yesterday we had a 
flying visit from your friend James Crawford and his wife, 
and yesterday I went with Lord Panmure and his ladies 
a picnic to Eauenthal, whence a magnificent view of the 
Ehine. These are nearly all the incidents since that 
saddest one of your own departure. We drink every 
morning, sleep every noon, table- d'hote at the Allee Saal, 
— except to-day, when we made a capital dinner for 25 
kreuzers apiece at the ' Bestauration/ and this evening, 
as once before, we take tea with the Lady Emma. Cold 
and rainy as the weather is, I almost wish that I were 
again safe amongst the books and coals of London. And 
you are thankful to be again at Storehouse." 

The renovated church was opened on a week-day by Dr. 
Guthrie, and Dr. Hamilton preached on the following 
Sabbath, 21st October 1860. Before sermon, and in con- 
nexion with the text, Judges vii. 1 8, he delivered a stir- 
ring address. We give it in full from his manuscript : — 

" There is great power in a battle-cry well chosen and 
well worded. ' Soldiers, from the top of these pyramids 
forty centuries look down upon you ! ' said Napoleon to his 



502 



nelson's battle-cky 



troops on the eve of conflict in Egypt, and this appeal to a 
cloud of witnesses was the very thing to rouse the fiery and 
glory-loving sons of France. But not more powerful than 
the watchword which Gideon gave to his three hundred 
patriots, a band as devoted as the three hundred at Ther- 
mopylae ; and which, revived not long ago with its double 
element of patriotism and piety, thrilled the ironsides of 
Cromwell — ' The sword of the Lord and of Gideon !' 

" In recent times no saying of the sort has been so suc- 
cessful as the last appeal of our great naval hero. It was 
on the 21st of October 1805 (fifty-five years ago this very 
day) that the battle of Trafalgar was fought. After a two 
years' hunt, Nelson that morning overtook the fleets of 
France and Spain, and, never thinking of his inferior 
numbers, hung out the watchword, ' England expects 
every man to do his duty.' The signal was answered 
with acclamations all along the line, and before the sun 
went down that enormous armament was annihilated, and 
it became no bootless boast, what another great sea-cap- 
tain had said not long before in reply to the question, 
' But will the French not come to England V 'At all 
events they cannot come by sea ! ' 

" Nelson's watchword was eminently successful ; but 
it could not have succeeded unless there had been some* 
thing responsive in the men to whom it spoke. Perhaps 
it would have failed with Napoleon's guards beneath the 
Pyramids ; assuredly Napoleon's sentiment would have 
failed with Nelson's tars. But it is a fine thing to know 
that even in that rough and regardless time, in the days of 
press-gangs, and soon after a frightful mutiny, there was 



ADAPTED TO THE CHURCH. 



503 



love of country, there was fear of God sufficient to make a 
challenge like this the key-note of conquest. I say ' love 
of country/ for the first word was £ England ; ' and ' fear of 
God/ for the last word was ' duty/ 

" On such an anniversary, and on the Sabbath after 
such a sermon as we heard last Wednesday, I hope it is 
not out of place to recall these memorable words. They 
are eminently Protestant and British. They recognise 
that great principle of individual responsibility which 
makes every man stand alone, and strictly accountable ; 
they appeal to that Anglo-Saxon energy which performs 
its own part without looking round to see what others are 
doing. And although we devoutly pray that such scenes 
of carnage may never come again, long may such words 
convey the essence of the Englishman ! Long may they 
resound in the bloodless battles which it is our lot to be 
daily fighting ! 

" Every man, every member of the Church, in our own 
case the twice three hundred who are enrolled beneath the 
banner of the Prince of Peace, the Church expects every 
one to do his duty, and so expects the Church's glorious 
Head. Do it in the way of preventing evil, as well as in 
the way of doing good. Do it by speaking the word in 
season to those who come near you. Do it by sending 
the missionary to those whom you yourselves cannot 
reach. Do it in ruling your own spirit, and spare a little 
to help those who are battling with the sins that beset 
them. Do it, scholar, in thy study ; do it, preacher, in 
thy pulpit ; do it, Martha, in the kitchen ; do it, good work 
and honest, Simon in the tan -pit, Aquila in the tent- 



504 



BIOGRAPHY OF CARLYLE. 



maker's yard. Do it, even although there is no one to 
see. Do it, even although others should not do theirs. 
Do it, even although there be danger in the doing. Do 
it, for if there be danger in the doing, there is more dan- 
ger in the neglect. Do it, though there is no one to see ; 
for even when onlookers are most numerous, the chief 
spectator is invisible, and when no one else is visible, 
He still is present. Do it, even although others should 
not do theirs ; for if at first it seems a hardship, it is the 
highest honour not only to fulfil your own, but to supply 
the lack of other's service." 

"48 Euston Square, Jan. 3, 1861. 

" My dear William, — . . . Your own is a cheering 
letter, with its accounts of yourselves and of the continued 
good work in Stonehouse. I am only sorry that blankets 
are not more abundant in the village. Please to lay out 
£2 of the enclosed on these ' compliments of the season/ 
and will you either give £1 to each of the children with 
my ' Happy New Year,' or expend it in a way that may 
approve itself to parental wisdom. 

" The renovated church is a great success. Nothing can 
be more beautiful, and it is extremely comfortable, and 
quite as good for hearing as so large a place could be. The 
standing at Psalms has improved the singing. There is 
a great increase in the attendance, but the communion 
roll is almost the same as in '59, — being then 612, and 
now 617. 

" Carlyle's biography is both amusing and horrible ; but 
it lifts the veil, and will leave posterity in no manner of 



"a whip foe the indolent." 



505 



doubt as to the intrinsic character of the moderate party 
during the last half of last century. George Wilson's 
life I have read with interest, from having known himself ; 
but I fear it is too long for the general reader. My teeth 
now water for Motley's new volumes ; but I must leave 
them over till next week. His daughters — the oldest, a 
fine intelligent girl — used to attend Eegent Square last 
winter along with Miss Andersons pupils. You perceive 
on what recJiercM paper I write. Having to inscribe the 
above some two or three thousand times a year, I thought 
it would be a great saving to have it printed. I begin the 
year with four reams or 1920 sheets of it, and will see how 
long it lasts. I am wonderfully diligent, entirely pastoral, 
seldom preaching week-day sermons, never out of my own 
pulpit since October, resolutely refusing all applications to 
write for the press, even your friend of Pilrig's entreaty 
to review Motley in the JS r orth British. 

Dr. Wilson of the Free Church Mission Institute, Bom- 
bay, in a letter of date 14th August 1860, after commend- 
ing to his notice a young Oriental about to settle in 
London, says, "When I was in Eajputana some months 
ago, I found on sale at the Government Education Depot 
a tract in Urdu (Hindustani, as spoken by the Mussul- 
mans), in which you may feel some interest, as it is a 
translation from Life in Earnest. I send a copy of it "by 
Mr. Eyan." And here it is in characters very uncouth to 
occidental eyes, but with an alternative title, considerately 
given in English, " A Whip for the Indolent," extracted 
and translated from Life in Earnest, by Babu Siraprasad. 



506 



DEATH OF HIS NEPHEW. 



There must be something remarkable in that religious 
teaching which is originally addressed to a congregation in 
London, and is reproduced by one of themselves for the 
use of Mussulmans in the interior of India. 

"48 Euston Square, March 15, 1861. 

" My dear William, — Yesterday Mr. Adams called and 
brought bad accounts from the African squadron, in which 
James (his cousin's son) of Beddington has been for two 
years. It seems that the Mandingoes — a set of warlike 
Africans — had been attacking our settlement on the 
Gambia, and the ' Arrogant/ with one or two other ships, 
sailed up the Gambia to put down the disturbance. 3000 
Mandingoes with 900 Arab cavalry had entrenched them- 
selves in stockades — a- sort of rampart against which 
cannon are almost useless, being beams or trunks of trees 
driven into the ground, and wattled together with green 
branches, through which balls pass freely, and which can- 
not be burned. Against this stockade James was leading 
on a storming party of sixty sailors, waving his sword 
with one hand and holding a revolver in the other. They 
must have seen that he was an officer, and taken good aim, 
for he fell with three bullets through the heart. The 
stockade was taken with the destruction of some hundreds 
of its defenders, but poor James lies there in his soldier's 
grave beneath the tropic." 

"London, June 12, 1861. 

" My dear William, — ... A few weeks ago Uncle 
Thomas called and gave me £1000 of Great Northern Pre- 
ference Stock, which he intended for poor James ; and he 



REVIEW OF THE YEAE. 



507 



said that he meant to give the same amount to you. The 
only sad thing about it is, that he for whom it was origi- 
nally intended ' is not/ It is a wonderful accession of 
wealth, and will in many ways be useful." 

"Jan. 1, 1862. — Of four reams of note-paper laid in 
on last New Year's Day, there now remains a single quire, 
indicating (official documents and foreign correspondence 
inclusive) about 2000 letters for the year. These letters 
take more time than all my sermons and lectures. Since 
I last wrote in this book, we have altered and re- opened 
Eegent Square Church. The cost was more than £13,000, 
but both the congregation and friends contributed so 
largely that we are only £2000 in debt. Mr. Gillespie, 
Mr. Thomson, Mr. Duncan gave £500 or upwards each, 
and very memorable have been the services of Mr. Petrie 
as treasurer, and Mr. Watson as secretary of the acting 
building committee. The new church was opened by 
Dr. Guthrie, October 1860; and, with its commodious 
pews and capital ventilation, is as comfortable as a large 
building can be. We have just revised our communion 
roll. Although we have added 108 members during the 
year, the increase is only eight actually, making our 
regular communicants 625 in all. During last year I 
officiated eighty-one times in Eegent Square, and gave 
fifty sermons or lectures elsewhere." 

In the congregational report, 1862, when a ministry of 
twenty- one years had been accomplished amongst them, 
the office-bearers introduced an affectionate tribute to his 
worth. Those annual reports are models of succinctness 



508 



CONGREGATIONAL REPORT. 



and fulness. The compilers brought high business talent 
to the management of congregational affairs. They did 
not often or lightly scatter eulogies. When on this one 
occasion they broke through restraint, and praised him in 
his presence, it is due to all parties that some of the lead- 
ing paragraphs should have a place in this record : — 

" We have left until last, not because it is least, a point 
in our history the most interesting of the year. On the 
25th of July last, our much-loving and much-beloved 
minister completed his ministerial majority in this place. 
On that day, twenty-one years ago, he preached his first 
sermon as our minister. Under his ministry, your gifts, 
in collections and through our congregational association, 
exclusive of the building fund, exceed in amount £27,000 ; 
the building fund sums to £12,000 more. Such an un - 
broken ministry is not a frequent occurrence, and the 
liberality which it has drawn forth may fairly compare 
with what has been seen in the most fruitful soils. The. 
fruits that cannot be marshalled in arithmetical columns 
we must leave to be unfolded in the great day of account. 
We give thanks both for that ministry and for its fruits. 
But if you have given much, you have also received 
much. How shall we speak of such a ministry as we 
have had the rare privilege of enjoying for one-and-twenty 
years, in terms that shall be at once adequate and within 
bounds ? Viewing the presidency under which we are 
convened this night, we are restrained, by obvious reasons, 
from saying all that we might say in other audience. 
But while restrained from saying all. shall we say 
nothing ? . . . 



HONOUR TO THE MINISTER. 



509 



!< We must ask his loving nature to bear with us even 

o 

in this. We honour ourselves by rendering appropriate 
homage to a mind so rarely endowed with gifts and graces ; 
to a man pervaded by so excellent a spirit as is found 
in him ; to a life so much in earnest, and so winsome, of 
which so large a part has been spent with ourselves ; to 
so living and loving an epistle, so capable of wooing us to 
the Saviour ; to a mind so fully furnished with knowledge, 
so capable of transmuting into gold — beyond the dreams 
of alchemy — whatsoever it touches ; so capable of im- 
pressing every fact, and almost every fancy, into his 
Master's service. Let us rejoice that a mind so sanctified, 
and so fully charged with things new and old — so capable 
of compelling tributaries from almost every region to 
illustrate and enforce the truth, was led to devote itself 
to the ministry of the Gospel. Let our prayers for his 
continued health and success in his Master's work be 
unceasing. Let us rejoice in his ministrations here ; and 
give thanks for the Christian authorship with which our 
language and the world is by him enriched. Ever drawing 
lessons for us from the Great Biography, he has this year 
added one more to the number, fitting sequence to the 
theme suggested by the night on the Mount of Olives — 
A Morning ~by the Lake of Galilee." 

"London- Jidy 7, 1862. 
" My deae Me. Davidson, — Our friends in River Ter- 
race Session are afraid that you have been somewhat dis- 
couraged by representations as to that field of labour, and 
have asked me to write to you my candid opinion regard- 



510 THE MINISTER OF RIVER, TERRACE. 

ing it. Now I will not be so Quixotic as to say that I 
prefer River Terrace to all the Presbyterian localities in 
London, but as a locality I think it is next to Regent 
Square. Islington abounds in Scotchmen, and now that 
Dr. Edmond is moving off as far as Highbury, the field is 
left almost entirely to yourself. From what I know of 
the neighbourhood and of yourself, I know no reason why 
you should not have next year a large and flourishing 
congregation gathered round you. I own that the long 
vacancy has tended to scatter the people, but they are 
not far away, they are not alienated, and they will be 
easily brought back again. Then the church is free of 
debt. There is an excellent Sabbath-school; and al- 
together, unless you give it the coup de grace by declining 
this call, there are few of our churches which have better 
prospects than River Terrace. If you can keep up your 
own resolution, in the trying circumstances, of parting 
with your present flock, and so keep up the spirits of the 
people in Islington, you will find a great door and effectual 
open, and will, I am sure, have no reason to regret the 
translation. — Believe me, most truly yours, 

" James Hamilton." 

Mr. Davidson complied with this advice, and has never 
had any cause to regret it. His ministry at Islington is 
in the best sense successful. 

" Northaw, by Barnet, Aug. 19, 1862. 

" My dear William, — . . . Cases like are de- 
plorable. There should be some self-acting machinery 



WEAK POINTS OF PRESBYTERY. 



511 



for suppressing congregations or suspending ministers 
when they sink so low. We have such cases in England 
forced upon us by worthy men, sometimes wealthy, but 
they are at once the suckers of our substance and a 
scandal to our cause." 

This short extract contains a very weighty thought. It 
behoves all self-supporting Presbyterian churches to 
ponder it well. A lack of power to deal authoritatively 
with cases of failure through some incapacitating pecu- 
liarity of the minister, threatens to check the progress 
of churches that are otherwise evangelical, vigorous, and 
free. A few examples of a ministry that is incapable, 
with possibly here and there one that is chronically dis- 
creditable, while the Church courts stand idly by, without 
the will or the power to remedy the wrong, do more to 
damage the Church at large than all the arguments of its 
adversaries. It is essential at this day to show before the 
world that Presbytery does not consist in allowing every 
man to do as he likes — to show that it is a real govern- 
ment. 

FROM THE EEV. J. D. BURNS. 

" Hampstead, Dec. 18, 1862. 

" My dear Dr. Hamilton, — Let me thank you very 
warmly for your kind and acceptable gift. For the donor's 
sake, as well as for its own, it will take its place, not only 
on my shelves, but in a more exclusive shrine, side by 
side with the Mount of Olives. And I believe that num- 
berless hearts to whom that book has ministered help, 
guidance, and comfort will feel that you have hence- 



512 JAMES BURNS AND JAMES HAMILTON. 

forward thrown the same sweet and hallowed charm 
around the Lake of Galilee. It will always have to me a 
pleasant association of a personal kind with the first Sab- 
bath service in onr new church ; nor could I have desired 
a better consecration of our sanctuary to the service of 
the Gospel than in words of the loving evangelist, or 
rather words of Him who loved him, so touchingly and 
wisely expounded. May that ever be the spirit of all the 
ministrations within its walls. You have given, me a 
more selfish motive for liking the book, by honouring 
some poor verses of mine with a place in it. On the 
principle of laudari a laudato, I cannot but be gratified ; 
and I assure you in all seriousness that I never admired 
the lines till I saw them so finely set, — preserved, too, for 
future times, like a fly in amber. Believe me, with heart- 
felt acknowledgments, yours most sincerely, 

" James D. Burns." 

Alas ! in writing these familiar names the biographer 
feels as if he were walking through a churchyard and 
counting the tombstones ! James Burns, a true poet and 
an able minister of Christ, writes a note of polished praise 
to his brother minister and brother author, James Hamil- 
ton. Burns is called away first ; Hamilton survives him 
long enough to compose his Memoirs, portions written 
during the lassitude of his last illness ; and himself called 
away before the book reaches the press. The Memoir of 
Burns by Hamilton is a posthumous publication ; it ap- 
peared after the grave had closed on its author. 

At Manchester, in 1863, the Synod adopted a general 



THE CHURCH EXTENSION SCHEME. 



513 



scheme, suggested by Mr. Eobert Lockhart of Liverpool, 
a zealous and liberal elder, for extinguishing the debt on 
existing ecclesiastical edifices, and of extending the Church 
in new fields. It was proposed to raise £25,000 by sub- 
scription, to be employed as a central fund, at once to 
aid individual congregations, and to stimulate their own 
liberality. Not long after its origin, Dr. Hamilton under - 
took the superintendence of this scheme, as convener of 
the committee, on condition that Mr. William Ferguson of 
Liverpool should consent to be treasurer. Induced by the 
double motive, zeal for the cause and great personal affec- 
tion for the convener, Mr. Ferguson undertook the task. 
Thus encouraged, and set free for a time by his Presbytery 
from his own pastoral work, Dr. Hamilton threw himself 
into the effort with all his heart. A series of sermons was 
preached, and a series of meetings held in Liverpool in 
June of the same year ; and the Presbyterians of the great 
sea-port, aided by friends and neighbours, inaugurated the 
movement by a subscription of £7500. 

It was an arduous undertaking, but it was successfully 
carried through. After the successful commencement in 
Liverpool, a meeting was held in London 15th March 1864, 
under the presidency of the Earl of Dalhousie, at which 
Dr. Hamilton gave an eloquent exposition of the plan. 
The conclusion of his address contained some most cheer- 
ing announcements, — "Liverpool has already subscribed 
£7500, and in Sunderland, Newcastle, North and South 
Shields, at least £2500 more had been promised. They 
had hoped to have with them this evening Mr. H. M. 
Matheson, and they all lamented the cause of his absence, 

2 K 



514 



THE CHUKCH EXTENSION SCHEME. 



whilst they rejoiced that he was already getting better. 
But he was prepared to give to the Synod's fund what the 
Prince of Wales had given to the Bishop of London's fund. 
Here is his promise of a thousand pounds. Failing Mr. 
Matheson, we asked Mr. Barbour of Bolesworth, who has 
long been himself a central fund to the Church, to come 
and support our noble chairman. Here is his letter, re- 
gretting that he cannot so soon return to town, but intimat- 
ing his intention of also subscribing a thousand pounds." 

The fund was so managed that in the course of the next 
four years it had drawn forth local contributions more than 
three times its own amount for the extinction of debt, and 
the erection of new churches. In this denominational 
effort the character of Dr. Hamilton was of great service 
to the Church at large. Among the members there were 
resources and zeal sufficient to make the needful contri- 
bution, but it was necessary that they should all unite ; 
and in order to such union it was necessary that they 
should all have confidence ; and in order to confidence it 
was necessary that there should be one at the head of the 
organization whom all could implicitly trust. His bright, 
hopeful way, too, in the actual conduct of affairs, went far 
to keep up the spirits of his coadjutors, and carry them 
through. In the conduct of this enterprise he showed 
himself as well qualified for practical business as for the 
departments of the scholar and the theologian. The sphere 
of his gifts w T as broad and varied. 



CHAPTER XII. 



1860-1865. 

On 7th April 1860 died James, only son of Mr. Thomas 
Hamilton of the Bow. He was an accomplished man, a 
devoted Christian, and a faithful pastor in the Episcopal 
Church. He had "been for many years Eector of Bedding- 
ton, Surrey. Dr. Hamilton, at the request of his uncle, 
whose wish was law, prepared a memoir of his cousin, which 
was printed for private use, but not offered to the public. 
This course was considered more consonant with the gentle 
retirement of his character ; but both the life delineated 
and the delineation of the life might have challenged the 
widest publicity. 

The following affectionate note was addressed by the 
bereaved widow to the biographer : — 

" Tunbbidge Wells, July 16, 1863. 

"My dear Cousin James, — I have been wishing to 
write to you, to tell you how much satisfied I am with 
your lifelike sketch of my dear James ; it comes out more 
and more as I read it over, till it gradually becomes a 
complete picture, growing upon one ; so far more satisfac- 
tory than a mere formal stereotyped description of certain 
qualities and manner would have been. I have had many 



516 



"EVANGELICAL CHRISTENDOM." 



most affectionate and satisfactory letters about it. I quite 
believe it will be a blessing and comfort to many, and I 
feel so very thankful that we thought of having it com- 
piled, and so grateful to you, dear cousin James, for having 
done it. You must let me thank you for it, for I know it 
was carried on in the midst of many other calls upon your 
time. To my dear father I believe it will be a comfort 
and delight for the rest of his days, and you have made 
him know what his son was better than he ever did before. 
I am sure this will be a reward to you. — With our best 
love to you all, believe me, your affectionate cousin, 

" Marianne Hamilton." 

Tn the autumn of 1863 a proposal was made by the late 
Mr. Henderson of Park, through Mr. Watson of Berners 
Street, that he should undertake the editorial charge of 
Evangelical Christendom, the organ of the Evangelical 
Alliance. In the first instance he declined, mainly on the 
ground that editorial work constituted in some measure 
a competing or secondary calling, and so became the rival 
of his pastorate. 

At a later date, however, through the persuasion of 
friends, and the representation made of the necessity and 
usefulness of the Magazine for the objects of Christian 
union, which lay near his heart, his objections were over- 
come. He undertook the work, and carried it on without 
intermission till the close of his life. This serial, from 1864 
to 1867, contains many papers by his hand of general and 
permanent interest on the various aspects of Christianity 
as it bears on the world and the age. 



LETTER TO PARENTS BEREAVED. 



517 



"London, Nov. 20. 1863. 
"My deae William, — . . . You must exceedingly 
miss Jane and Willie. I am sure it is s:ood for vouno; 
people to get some of their education away from home ; 
but I am very soft-hearted about sending any of ours 
away ; on the other hand it is wonderful how little (here 
at least) one sees of them at home. Latterly I have 
allowed them to come more into the study, just as a 
means of keeping up the acquaintance ; but, after all, it 
is bodily presence rather than actual intercourse. I am 
always trying to save time, and always falling again into 
some scrape. Just now I have agreed to edit Evangelical 
Cliristendom for 1864, which will pretty well swallow 
up the leisure of one year." 

Thus he was enticed to undertake the work, as Parlia- 
ment consents to pass the Mutiny Act, by the expedient 
of undertaking it only for one year. 

TO ME. AND MES. FEEGUSON, BIEKENHEAD. 

"Londov, Jan. 2, 1864. 

" My deae Feiends, — What a bitter blow to you ! but 
what a blessed Xew Tear's Day to your beloved child ! 
How well I remember the dear little fellow with his too 
good head, and his bright observant ways. I think the last 
I saw of him was when his mamma and his brother and 
he convoyed me to the tramway, and in a few days they 
were to set forth for Kdnmimdy and the holidays. And 
now he is beholding the face of his Father who is in 
Heaven, his thirst of knowledge will be abundantly grati- 



518 



ON THE DEATH OF LITTLE ONES. 



fled, and all the traits which made him to you and your 
friends so endearing will be improved to the utmost, and 
features will be added which it hath not entered into the 
heart of man to conceive. 

"Most deeply do we both feel for you in this great 
sorrow ; but the Lord Himself will sustain you with His 
own strong consolation, and will make all grace abound 
towards you. With Mrs. Hamilton's sympathizing re- 
membrance, and my own, to yourself and Mrs. Ferguson, 
— I remain, my dear friend, ever affectionately yours, 

" James Hamilton." 

The death of this child brought up a very interesting 
circumstance. In June of the preceding year, while Dr. 
Hamilton was residing with his friend Mr. Ferguson, 
prosecuting the Church Extension Fund, he occupied some 
spare hours in preparation for the following Sabbath in 
London. According to his wont, he dated the sermon, 
place and time, "St. Aidan's Terrace, Birkenhead, 19th 
June 1863 ;" its text was, "And he said unto his father, 
My head, my head," 2 Kings iv. 1 9. It was finished partly 
on the way and partly at home on the following day. 
The subject was the death of little children, and the con- 
solations to Christian parents under bereavement. When, 
more than six months afterwards, he learned that his 
friend's bright boy had been suddenly removed, and that 
his only cry during the illness had been " My head, my 
head," he turned to the MS. of the sermon, and sent it for 
perusal, date and all, with an affectionate letter to the 
bereaved parents. 



GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 



519 



FKOM DE. M'URIE. 

" 23 Rochester Road, Feb. 1, 1864. 

" My dear De. Hamilton, — With the pleasant echoes 
of your morning discourse yesterday still sounding in my 
ears, will you permit me to make a humble, though very 
selfish, request. I spoke to you about giving these ser- 
mons to the public, but I ' earnestly covet ' them for the 
British and Foreign Evangelical before they are framed 
into a volume. They would form an admirable sequel 
to the series on the ' Scottish Philosophy/ from the pen 
of our friend Dr. M'Cosh. They would furnish a most 
seasonable and effective antidote to the 'Philosophy/ 
falsely so called, now poisoning the minds of our young 
and ingenuous readers. Even as they stand, without 
putting you to any great trouble, the four discourses 
would make delightful reading as a series on the ' Grecian 
Philosophy.' I look to you to help me in establishing 
the British and Foreign. — Yours very sincerely, 

" Thomas M'Cbie." 

These lectures on the sects and phases of the Greek 
Philosophy in contrast with Christianity, are all that 
Dr. M'Crie certifies them to be. They have not yet been 
published, but they ought to see the light. 

" London, May 17, 1864. 
" My deae William, — . . . The day after I returned, 
viz., last Thursday, Mrs. Strong left for Quarter, where 
she now is. We were quite sorry to part with her. 
Amidst much suffering, her unselfish, or rather self-con- 



520 



LITERARY ASPIRATIONS. 



quering cheerfulness, renders her a delightful inmate, and 
both Annie and I rniss her greatly." 

Here we again obtain a glimpse of that friendship, more 
than romantic, having its root in a common relation to the 
same Eedeemer, which was formed during his brief ministry 
at Abernyte, and endured without abatement to the end. 
We shall meet with the family very soon again in the 
course of our narrative, and learn the value of such 
sanctified attachments. The need will soon occur which 
requires and manifests the friend indeed. 

During this summer an access of the Erasmus fever 
occurs. As usu al in such cases, a small note-book is bought, 
and duly inaugurated. The great intention is announced, 
and entries bearing on it regularly begun. In this in- 
stance the record extends only over one week. The 
project, driven out by a whole army of assailing cares, 
goes out of sight for the time. After a few throbs, each 
feebler than its predecessor, the conception seems to expire. 
Some time afterwards, as we shall see, he returns to this 
fondly cherished scheme, not with the view of executing 
it, but in order to lay it tenderly in its grave, as a thing 
greatly desired, but impossible in a life so short and so 
full. We insert the whole of this record : — 

"48 Euston Square, London, June 10, 1864. — Last week, 
a notion which I have long entertained revived on my 
mind so powerfully as to be for the moment a ruling 
passion. It is to write a popular sketch of the life and 
times of Erasmus — a subject of which I took partial pos- 
session in an Exeter Hall lecture four years ago. I have 



DAY-BOOK. 



521 



got the books, and in my memory have some of the 
materials ; but I must go about it honestly, and not give 
to it the time which anterior duties claim. The amount 
of this is small indeed. I have got this book in order to 
mark down for a time how the days are filled up, and see 
by actual experience how far I am likely to succeed. 

" On Monday, six hours were consumed by visitors, one 
and a half hours by a meeting of our district visitors, and 
then a meeting of Session nearly three hours long left me 
no energy remaining. 

" On Tuesday, I started at eight to baptize the child of a 
good man who had come up for the purpose from Ipswich. 
Then went to Blackheath, and then to Stratford, to see an 
invalid old lady who had sent a message saying that she 
would like to see me, and only got back in time to attend 
two committees, and finish the day of fourteen hours by 
speaking at a public meeting. 

" TT: the Sth. — Started at nine for the marriage 
of Mary Gillespie, and before I returned from that and 
two visits of friendship at Clapham it was ten at night. 

" Thursday the 9th. — "Worked — interrupted by visitors, 
for six hours writing letters and documents connected with 
our Foreign Missions, the Presbyterian Mission question, 
the supply of vacant churches, etc. Then three and a half 
hours calling on Madame Jerichau, Lord Eollo, Mrs. Pati- 
son. etc. — not one of them belonging to the congregation, 
and finished off with the prayer- meeting. 

"Friday the 10th. — Spent three hours laying the founda- 
tions of a sermon on 'The Spirit of Christ/ John vi. 65. 
and gave four hours to visits. In the evening an hour of 
Erasmus. 



522 



DR. HAMILTON INVITED 



" llth, Saturday. — Began my sermon de novo, and, inter- 
rupted only by one needful visit and a funeral, proceeded 
prosperously for eight hours. 

" \2th, Sunday. — Preached twice. 

" 1 3 th. — Usual Monday levee. Mne letters, four hours 
of visiting, and the evening closed with a friend at 
supper. 

" lith. — Four hours Erasmus. Visit to Horticultural 
Gardens. Presbytery. A committee two and a half hours. 
Three letters. Ten visitors. 

"15th. — Twelve letters, which, with visitors, occupied 
from breakfast till our one o'clock dinner. Then till tea 
visited. Thereafter Erasmus three and a half hours, and 
finished the Colloquies. 

"16th. — Visits to the sick two hours; visitors two and 
a half hours. Prayer-meeting and committee three hours. 
Read a hundred pages Letters of Miss Cornwallis. 

" llth. — Prepared a paper for Evangelical Christendom!' 

Alas ! at this rate, when will the eleven Latin folios of 
Erasmus be read and digested ! 

When Dr. Guthrie was compelled by infirm health to 
retire from the conspicuous and honourable position which 
he had long held in Edinburgh, the eyes of Dr. Hanna, his 
colleague, and the congregation were first turned towards 
Dr. Hamilton as the most suitable successor. A corre- 
spondence accordingly took place, with the view of ascer- 
taining, in the first instance privately, whether he was 
disposed to entertain the proposal. His judgment as to 
duty was from the first clear, and therefore he wisely gave 
a decisive answer at once, so that the matter was carried 



TO SUCCEED DR. GUTHRIE. 



523 



no further. Dr. Hamilton had consecrated his life to the 
ministry in London, and he would not permit any con- 
sideration of relief to his wearied spirit, or leisure for 
literary work, to turn him aside from his purpose. The 
correspondence between him and Dr. Hanna on that occa- 
sion need not now be considered private; and on the 
principle of enabling the reader to consider for his own 
profit " whatsoever things are lovely" in the intercourse 
of fellow-disciples, we transcribe it here entire : — 

FROM DR. HANNA. 

"Edinburgh, July 14, IS 64. 

" My dear Dr. Hamilton, — You are aware, perhaps, that 
in consequence of Dr. Guthrie's being permanently laid 
aside, we are anxious to find some one to fill his place in 
St. John's. The position is one of such importance that 
you will excuse my writing to you about it. We have 
difficulty in finding in Scotland the man we want, and it 
has occurred to me that there might be some one in Eng- 
land who might do. Do you know of any such ? Some 
of our members were so presumptuous as to cherish the 
fond imagination that the comparative relief from labour 
and return to your native land might induce even you to 
entertain the idea of it. It is too much to hope for, but 
I could state many things about the position you would 
occupy here winch would make it not so Utopian as at 
first sight it seems; but I presume that I need not do 
more than simply hint at it. You will pardon my doing 
so much, as it springs from the earnest desire I have to 
see Dr. Guthrie's place occupied by one worthy to be his 



524 



INVITATION TO EDINBURGH 



successor. It will be my effort to make the position as 
agreeable in every way to his successor as I have striven 
to make it to him. — I am ever, dear Dr. Hamilton, very 
truly yours, Wm. Hanna." 

FROM DE. HAMILTON. 

"London, July 23, 1864. 

" My deae De. Hanna, — You are one of the earliest 
and dearest of my friends, and in Edinburgh every time 
I revisit it I feel something of the olden spell, and I am 
alive, perhaps too keenly, to the consideration which you 
urged, — the hope of doing some things in a sphere of com- 
parative leisure which it is very certain will never be 
done in London. 

" But the reasons against leaving Eegent Square seem 
conclusive. I cannot suppose that there ever was a mini- 
ster happier in his people and in his sessional colleagues 
than I have been, and the thought of parting is what I 
cannot face ; even to meditate it as a thing possible seems 
little short of treason. And now it would be more un- 
grateful than ever, for it is my present flock which has 
just expended an enormous sum in the purchase and im- 
provement of our church, and which has done more than 
enough to make me, as to worldly things, free from care- 
fulness. The effect, too, on our Presbyterianism generally 
might be very injurious. To personal friends who have 
made great and noble sacrifices for church extension and 
for missions, I am sure it would be discouraging. Here 
we are all needful to one another, and although my suc- 
cessor might be far more suitable, that would hardly 



CONCLUSIVELY DECLINED. 



525 



make amends for my going away. With a wonderful 
dislike to ecclesiastical affairs and to business generally, 
the course of events, and the misjudging kindness of my 
brethren, have compelled me to take more than a propor- 
tional share of our Church's work ; and, although it were 
for nothing else but the fear of weakening others' hands, 
I must abide at my post. I assure you it costs me a 
pang. Fully the half of my time is occupied in doing 
things which many men could do far better, and which 
are to me unspeakably irksome. I try to accept them as 
' the burden of the Lord,' but often I inwardly rebel, and 
your proposal revived for an instant the dreams of other 
days. The right hand which, if I had not cut off, I had 
at least tied up many years ago, seemed as if it might yet 
regain its cunning; and now I feel more effort than I 
ought in removing a tempting opportunity and returning 
to the life of a Presbyterian factotum. However, I believe 
that it is right, and with so many compensations, with 
congenial friends, an affectionate people, and an abund- 
ance of all earthly blessings, it would be ridiculous as 
well as sinful to talk of sacrifice. 

"Let me in conclusion thank you and those other 
friends who have thought of me so kindly. In one thing, 
I am sure, you have judged aright, we should have gone 
on famously together ; and, although I must not accept 
your invitation, I shall always remember it as the crown- 
ing act in a friendship which began more than thirty 
years ago, and which I rejoice to believe is unending. 

"J. H." 



526 LETTER TO HIS LITTLE DAUGHTER. 



" London, July 25, 1S64. 

" My dear William, — . . . Ten days ago, Dr. Harma 
wrote asking me how I would like to be Dr. Guthrie's 
successor. This, of course, is what no one can be ; but 
for some reasons I might have liked very well to be Dr. 
Hanna's colleague : the one sermon weekly, the leisurely 
life of Edinburgh, the idea of doing some things which I 
used to dream of, but which it is very certain I can never 
do in London. All this, however, is countervailed by the 
necessities of my position. I cannot abandon the cause 
of Presbyterianism in England, nor can I leave a people 
who have done what the people of Eegent Square have 
done within the last four years ; so to-day I sent off my 
refusal. Although, like Issachar, I see that rest is good, 
I have again put my shoulder to the burden." 

Most touching words, when read in the light of subse- 
quent events. Alas ! the burden was more than he could 
bear; and, accordingly, he sank soon under its weight. 
He would not accept comparative rest in Edinburgh ; he 
would labour on till he should reach the perfect rest. 

"London, July 27, 1864. 

"My deae Mary Isabella,— My last was to Annie, 
and this is to you. You have both been good corre- 
spondents. 

" Yesterday I went down to Tiverton in Devonshire, to 
give my lecture on 'Books and Readers.' Devonshire is 
a beautiful county, abounding in corn and apple-trees, 
and the green fields all studded with cows of a tawny-red 



DIALOGUE WITH A PIANO-TUNER. 



527 



colour, as if they had been dipped in treacle, — and very 
nice cows they are, for it is their milk which yields the 
Devonshire cream. Tiverton is a pretty little town, with 
a bright stream of water running down every street, like 
the New Jerusalem, with a river of water clear as crystal 
on either side of the street. I slept in the hotel, and, by 
way of distinction, they gave me the rooms which Lord 
Palmerston occupies when he comes down to be elected 
Member of Parliament. J. H." 

" Tunbkxdge Wells, August 15, 1864. 

" A man came in to tune the piano, an upright one. 
When the front was removed it revealed several rows of 
dirty cobwebs, which gave rise to the following colloquy. 
I give it as nearly as possible, word for word. I believe 
that the tuner now sells pianos as well as makes them ; 
but he did not profess to be more than a working man, 
and spoke like one. 

" ' D.D. What an odd place for spiders to build in ! 

" ' Musician. But not so bad either, considering their 
dangers from housemaids' brooms. 

" ' D.D. But if it is flies they want, they will have long 
to wait. 

" ' M. When the weather grows cold the flies will go in. 

" ' D.D. No doubt ; and if he is sure of a good feast in 
October, a spider will submit to a two months' fast quite 
patiently. 

" ' M. Is that really the case ? 

" ' D.D. I remember reading of a gentleman who shut 
up in a pill-box a field-spider and threw it into a drawer. 



528 



DIALOGUE WITH A PIANO-TUNER. 



He thought no more about it till half a year afterwards, 
when he opened the drawer, and, taking off the lid of the 
box, the spider sprang out as livery as ever, though not 
quite so jolly. His body had shrunk from the bulk of 
a pea to the size of a pin's head. It is the same with 
all creatures who subsist by catching others. A Xorth 
American Indian can exist without food much longer than 
an Englishman, who knows that he has only to step into 
an eating-house when he wants his dinner. And it is the 
same with all hunters. A horse or cow would die if left 
two or three days without food, but a lion or tiger w T ould 
feel it no hardship ! and a spider who lives by his wits, 
has been constructed so as to survive a period of hunger 
which would kill off all the leaf-browsing grubs on the face 
of creation. 

" ' M. Is it not wonderful how the Almighty fits every 
creature for the life it has got to lead ? Don't you think, 
sir, it would be nice if clergymen like you were sometimes 
explaining these things in their sermons ? 

" ' D.D. Well, it is hardly to hear about these things 
that people come to church. It is the Gospel, or God's 
merciful message to siuners, that Christian congregations 
wish to hear. The works of God are a very proper subject 
for popular lectures and mechanics' institutes, but people 
come to church to hear the Word of God explained. 

" ' M. I may as well be candid, and it is not very often 
that I have been to church, but it is not because I am 
against religion. It is because at church I either cannot 
understand, or else it is not the thing that my mind craves 
for. It is all either denunciation, or doctrines, or phrases 



FRENCH AND ENGLISH WORKMEN. 



529 



that I do not know the meaning of. And I think it is the 
same with a great many working men. I have been 
among pianoforte-makers in different factories off and on 
for eighteen years, mostly in London, and although there 
are some wild fellows enough, I do not think their minds 
are set against religion. It is different in Paris, where I 
worked for two years. There they would laugh at the 
whole thing. They leave religion to the women, but the 
men themselves don't really seem to feel to want it. It 
is different in England. An Englishman is made for re- 
ligion, and however bad he be, there is always something 
in him that tells him it is right. In France, the priests 
keep hold of the people, because they have got hold of the 
women ; but in England the clergy have not got hold of 
the working people, either men or women. We never feel 
as if a clergyman could understand or enter into us. In 
any trouble, when wanting advice or comfort, it never 
occurs to us to go to a minister. 

" ' D.D. Neither the English nor French artisan goes to 
Church, and so they are practically alike in dispensing with 
religion. Did' you find much difference between them 
otherwise ? 

"'M. The French operative has much more taste than 
the English. Perhaps it is natural to him ; but in Paris 
everything is so beautiful, and people are so much in the 
way of going out and in places like the Louvre, and making 
remarks on what they see, that it forms their taste and 
gives them a delicate judgment about their work.' 

" He then told me what a nice collection of the mosses 
and ferns of the neighbourhood his own boy had formed." 

2 L 



530 



HIS DAUGHTER AT SCHOOL. 



" Tunbeidge Wells, Aug. 16, 1864. 

" Dearest Annie, 1 — Your letter of Saturday and Mon- 
day — for which a special deputation, consisting of Bell 
and Tina and cousin Maggie, went to the post-office — was 
read to an eager auditory, and it was a great joy to us all 
to hear thus far of your welfare. At first there will be 
some long days, and now and then some dull ones ; but 
happily our minds have been so made that anything to 
which we apply them at last becomes pleasant, and 
though a little irksome at first, we get inured to system 
and routine. The habit is invaluable. People who are 
prompt, punctual, orderly, methodical, get through their 
work in the world so quietly and comfortably, and, 
with least fatigue to themselves, do the most service to 
others. For the sake of these habits alone, it is worth 
while to be at school for a time. And now, my dear 
daughter, I commend you to the care and keeping of your 
Heavenly Father. It is our great happiness to know that 
He is ever near you. May He enable you to gain the 
love of those around you, and give you health and happi- 
ness. I am sure you will find Miss Fox good and kind. 

"J. H." 

" Ttjnbridge Wells, Aug. 20, 1864. 
" My dear Sissie, 2 — This day will finish your first and 
longest week of school. Mamma and I miss you very 
much, but are reconciled — at least try to reconcile our- 
selves — to your absence by the hope of the advantage you 
will derive from it. Most of the week I have spent in 
reading the Latin letters of Erasmus. They are very 

1 His daughter at school. 2 Familiar name for Annie. 



EETEOSPECT OF VACATIONS. 



531 



amusing. One I read to-day describes a lively tourist on 
board a vessel on the Bhine, attended by a monkey, with 
a musket slung to bis side, and an itinerary (Murray's 
Guide) in bis band, in which he was constantly jotting 
down the names of the places as they passed, — all so like 
travellers now-a-days, all except the monkey. 

" The Lord bless you and keep you. — Ever your affec- 
tionate father, James Hamilton." 

"Brighton, Sept. 1864.— I would like to recall where 
and how the August recess of these London years has 
been spent. 

" 1842. — At Tunbridge Wells, Eock Lodge, now a 
tumble- down old house on the ascent to Mount Ephraim, 
with my dear mother and brothers and Jane. Eour 
weeks of wonderful sunshine. Lay most of the time 
under the trees, and read (among many other books) 
Hetherington's History of the Church of Scotland, and 
Haldane On the Romans, and Hodge ; laying the plan of a 
course of lectures on Eomans, which filled up the Sabbath 
mornings of nearly three years, with much enjoyment to 
myself, and I hope not without some benefit to the people. 
Here also I prepared for the press a tract, The Dew of 
Hermon. We used to worship with the warm-hearted 
Wesleyans, and I preached twice in their neat little 
chapel, and have still a handsome copy of their hymn- 
book, which they gave me as a remembrance, along with 
a specimen of their Tunbridge ware. 

"August, 1843. — Was in Scotland, still tumultuating 
with all the excitement of the recent Disruption. Partly 



532 RETROSPECT OF VACATIONS. 



at Stonehouse, preaching to the Free Church adherents in 
a grassy dell by the burn-side, near the village ; partly at 
Gourock with Mr. William Buchanan, and finally with the 
Gillespies at Dalblair House, near Ayr. One excursion I 
remember with much pleasure to the ruins of Crossraguel 
Abbey, and to Culzean Castle, as well as an evening 
amidst the woods and waters round the Castle of Mont- 
gomery. 

"1844. — Was at Worthing gathering mushrooms with 
the Gillespies on Chantonbury Eing ; going picnics to 
Bramber ; reading Ernest Maltravers. 

" 1845. — Along with Jane and Andrew, joined William 
and his bride in a trip to Paris. We had pleasant apart- 
ments in a quiet hotel in the Eue de la Paix, and were 
the most industrious of sightseers, feeling strong, elastic, 
and happy. Every morning after breakfast, on the fresh- 
est of eggs and finest of bread, we sallied forth, and kept 
dutifully moving through galleries and gardens until it 
was time to return to our five o'clock dinner. Then, when 
the lamps were being lighted, we started anew, revolving 
round the Boulevards, turning in for an ice at Tortoni's 
or a cup of coffee in the Palais Eoyal. With William's 
funny stories, and perpetual flow of spirits, or with fits of 
remorse at his own extravagance, which were still more 
diverting, it was a joyful time, and, as we drifted along, as 
gay as the Parisians." 

"48 Euston Square, A r ou. 25, 1864. 
" My dear Sissie, — Bell has been a prisoner with cold 
all this week, and has improved her leisure in writing a 



LETTER TO HIS DAUGHTER. 



533 



letter which, no doubt, contains all the news ; so what 
am I to do ? For you don't want a dissertation ; and 
what you do want is forestalled. But let me see. Has 
Bell told you how a tortoise-shell pussy came to the 
kitchen window, and was taken in ? and how mamma, 
justly fearing for the birds, ordered it away; and it is 
gone ? And how the parakeets and cockatoos have been 
brought up-stairs for fear of the cat, which has gone 
away ? And has Bell told you how, on Friday, Mr. Fossett 
sent two pheasants and a hare ? and how, on Monday, 
Mrs. Eippon brought two more pheasants ? and how, on 
Wednesday, Mr. Gillespie sent a barrel of flour ; and how, 
this very day, Mr. Thomson sent a goose, — a sister of the 
one he sent last Michaelmas ? Then has she told you 
how this week I have been reading my old friend Homer, 
and like him better than ever ? and how I have edited 
the December number of Evangelical Christendom, and 
written the preface to the volume for 1864? And how 
Sabbath next will be my birthday, when I shall be fifty 
years old ? If she has not mentioned these things, I can't 
think what she can have put in her letter ; and if she has 
told you all these things, you see how nothing is left 
for me. 

" A fortnight after this you will be coming home, and 
the Square, which you left so beautiful, will be dark and 
sombre, unless the fairies should come and cover it with 
their frosty filagree ; and Miss Smith, whom you left ' a 
free and fetterless thing,' you will find a poor, bird-limed 
canary, just ready to be put into the cage ; and myself, 
whom you left rejoicing in the year of jubilee, you will 



534 



BREAD ON THE WATERS. 



find a staid old gentleman on the shady side of fifty ; and 
Bertie you will find at school in knickerbockers. But we 
shall all be glad to see you, even though you should be as 
tall as the lamp-post, and so learned that we must all 
speak in unknown tongues. — Till then, I remain, your 
affectionate father, James Hamilton." 

TO HIS WIFE. 

"London, Feb. 6, 1865. 
" Last night I did preach for Mr. Chalmers ; and Arnot 
had a fine congregation in Eegent Square. On my return 
from Marylebone, one of the office-bearers, a fine, intel- 
ligent man, about six-and-thirty, told me that he was one 
of a dozen of the older boys in the Caledonian Asylum 
whom I used to have at tea in Lansdowne Place ; and 
mentioned that the first serious impressions he had were 
when I visited the school and gave addresses to the boys. 
These produced no seeming effect at the moment, but he 
and two or three others would go away afterwards and 
weep bitterly. They joined together as a little band for 
prayer and reading the Bible, and most of them have 
turned out well. This is ' bread on the waters ' found 
twenty-two years afterwards." 

"48 Euston Square, Feb. 17, 1865. 
" My dearest Annie, — Yesterday afternoon, entertained 
at tea the Eev. E. M'All of Leicester, who had come up to 
be introduced as a F.L.S., along wuth James Smith and 
your friend Carruthers. Took the cab-full down to Bur- 
lington House, where we had a paper on 'Vegetable 
Monstrosities ; ' then went from the Linnsean to the Eoyal 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



535 



Society, where a paper was read on the funny behaviour 
of atoms in leucate of zinc, and certain compounds whose 
very names I never 'heard tell of;' then came out and 
took a second tea with the Fellows, including Dr. Baird, 
Joseph Hooker, and other friends, old and new. Thence 
to Arthur Kinnaird's ' to meet Lord Dalhousie ' — tea the 
third." 

"48 Ecjston Square, March 10, 1865. 

" My dear William, — . . . Your dear good Jane is 
with us again, having returned on Tuesday. She is a 
bright and pleasant inmate, but I fear will find it much 
duller than it was at Christmas, when all the children 
had their holidays. I am never much in the way of com- 
pany to any one, and the last few weeks, betwixt writing 
papers for Macmillan on Erasmus, and a set of lectures on 
hymnology, my thoughts have been for the most part 
inside the foolscap. . . . 

" Like ourselves, you have had a severe and trying 
winter, with much sickness among your people. In four 
weeks we lost five elderly members, all mothers in Israel. 
The only one whom you would know was Mrs. Johnstone, 
of Gower Street. 

" This is the anniversary of the death of little James 
Walker, fifteen years ago. Dear child ! I like to look at 
his bust, there is in it so much of Jane, and so much of 
those 'whose angels do always behold the face of your 
Father/ " 

These papers for Macmillan were only certain feelers 
put forth in the direction of a great design, to ascertain 



536 



PREPARATIONS FOR A WORK 



for himself whether it might be possible. The desire to 
write the life and times of Erasmus was a passion, cherished 
long and cherished deeply. With a view to it, he accom- 
plished a great amount of congenial reading. The accumu- 
lations of material for this work are greater than for any 
other, whether actually accomplished or only projected. 
Besides many items in the ordinary stores of Bibline, a 
substantial book is dedicated exclusively to this subject, 
and is, to a large extent, filled with extracts, jottings, 
thoughts, and references. It is a curious receptacle : it is 
touching to peep into the workshop, now that the ingenious 
and busy worker is gone. His net had been spread out in 
all directions, and frequently drawn : the miscellaneous 
heaps that it brought up at successive throws are carefully 
stowed away ; each atom in its own place. The bones 
piled up in this apartment are very many, and, to the 
casual observer, they seem very dry ; but if the hand that 
gathered them had, for a few years longer, retained its 
cunning, the whole might have been compacted into one 
symmetric organism, covered with flesh, and heaving with 
the breath of life. 

With J ames Hamilton, however, this passion for a great 
literary achievement was the strong man overcome and 
dispossessed by a stronger. The ministry of the Gospel, 
and such literature as directly sprang from it, dominated, 
and held other aspirations down. It was "first the 
kingdom of God and His righteousness," and such other 
things as the literature of the Eeformation period were 
compelled to take a secondary place. 

In these papers for Macmillan, and in a lecture before 



ON THE LIFE OF ERASMUS. 



537 



the Young Men's Christian Association, he laid down 
some lines, and noted some facts; but the great design 
died with himself. 

His own journal, however, which is on this point ex- 
plicit and full, will tell how fondly the scheme was 
cherished, and how reluctantly it was abandoned at last. 

" May 1 7, 1 8 6 5. — For a good many years I have cherished 
a hope of doing something towards the Life and Times of 
Erasmus. The subject is very attractive, and with trans- 
lations of some of his livelier letters and the more amusing 
passages in his colloquies, I fancy it might have been made 
entertaining. At all events, I should have liked to point 
out his special position and service. He not only did more 
than any other man towards the revival of letters, but he 
has left both religion and philosophy under endless obli- 
gations as the restorer of good sense. The ' sound mind/ 
the love of the practical, the true, and the useful, was his 
distinguishing characteristic, and it was this, as much as 
the love of the beautiful, which carried him with such 
ardour into the study of classical antiquity. His first 
great book was the Adages, an effort to bring together the 
sagacity and experimental wisdom of all ages ; and his 
first theological treatise, the Enchiridion, is an admirable 
attempt to exhibit and enforce practical Christianity, dis- 
tinct from trivial observances and superstitious adhesions. 
The same good sense runs through his Paraphrase, and, 
blended with exquisite humour, gives enduring value to 
his letters and more sprightly effusions. 

" Tor this very cause, some do not like him. They call 
him a rationalist, and the father of them. But if they 



538 REASONABLENESS NOT RATIONALISM. 

mean that he was an unbeliever, they are utterly wrong. 
He lacked moral courage, and his nature was not very 
emotional ; but within the limits of his pretty large and 
comprehensive creed, he seems to have had as few doubts 
as other men. The greater part of Popery he tacitly let 
go, but this only enabled him to retain with more un- 
questioning confidence the common Christianity. 

" From Eationalism, in the sense of an irreverent ignor- 
ing of the supernatural, I revolt with all my heart and soul ; 
but I long to see more reasonableness in the spiritual and 
ecclesiastical domain. Some hints regarding the XoycKi] 
\arpela might have been given in connexion with Erasmus 
and the early Eeformers. 

" Besides, it would have been very pleasant to revise 
that prodigious range of literature, patristic and classical, 
of which Erasmus was the editor. Owing to a secluded 
boyhood, and unlimited youthful leisure, without ever 
attaining accurate scholarship, I have read in these de- 
partments more than most people ; and, after an absti- 
nence of a quarter of a century, a strange longing for these 
books returns. Like the daisies and dandelions that come 
up in October, it is the feeble revival of an impossible 
spring. For after giving to the work the spare hours and 
the autumn holiday of the last two or three years, I am 
constrained to abandon the task. This last winter had no 
leisure, and in the congregation a childish feud about the 
hymn-book was so conducted as to rob me of rest by night 
and peace by day ; and, perhaps as a consequence of this, 
I find my elasticity a good deal impaired. So this day, 
with a certain touch of tenderness, I restored the eleven 



THE LONG-CHERISHED PROJECT ABANDONED. 539 

tall folios to the shelf, and tied up my memoranda, and 
took leave of a project which has sometimes cheered the 
hours of exhaustion, and the mere thought of which has 
always been enough to overcome my natural indolence. 
It is well ; if a favourite play, it was also a great tempta- 
tion. It was a chance, the only one I ever had, of attain- 
ing a small measure of literary distinction; and where 
there is so much 'pride and haughtiness of heart,' it is 
better to be unknown. Like the congregation of the 
Gascon preacher who had forgotten his discourse, the 
world will never know what a treat it has lost ; and not 
having this absorbent for spare hours, it is possible that 
to wife and children, and people, there may be a gain in 
the abandonment of the magnum opus." 

In all his papers I have not met with anything more 
affecting than this farewell. It is a right arm he is cut- 
ting off : he is wrung to the heart by the deed, and yet 
with his own hand he deliberately performs it. How sad 
and tender, in the light of subsequent events, is his allu- 
sion to the feeble efforts of the flowers to reproduce in 
October " an impossible spring." Already he felt the vital 
energies beginning to ebb. Yet, sad though this renun- 
ciation was, his obituary notice of the magnum opus 
concludes with a playful allusion — a smile is on his 
countenance as he announces its decease. 

FKOM THE REV. DR. M'CRIE. 

"23 Rochester Road, March 13, 186D. 

"My dear Dr Hamilton, — The Church of Scotland 
contemplated from the beginning the addition to her 



5-40 HYMNS IN REFORMATION TIMES. 

psalmody of ' other scriptural songs.' The proposal was 
revived in 1645-1648, after the Solemn League had been 
sworn, showing that they did not consider such an addi- 
tion would be any infringement of her 'covenanted 
uniformity.' The proposal, though interrupted by the 
persecution, was renewed as soon as the Church obtained 
peace at the Eevolution, and its stoppage then may be 
traced to the decline of public and personal piety in Scot- 
land. Meanwhile the people, accustomed only to the 
Psalms, acquired for our Psalter that veneration with 
which they regarded all that had been practised by their 
persecuted ancestors ; and the Seceders in particular re- 
garded adherence to it as part of the ' covenanted uni- 
formity,' which was a great mistake. Hence ' the con- 
scientious attachment to the Psalms' — an attachment 
which none of our fathers in the Scottish Church, at any 
period of her history, till the middle of last century, would 
ever have dreamed inconsistent with the introduction of 
other Scripture songs. — Ever yours truly, 

" Thomas M'Ckie." 

The testimony of Dr. M'Crie, with the grounds on 
which his judgment rests, should settle and set at rest the 
specific question on which it bears. Our Presbyterian 
ancestors did not consider the use of sacred songs in pub- 
lic worship, in addition to the Psalms, any dereliction of 
duty, or any contravention of Scripture. 

" Sunnyside, Liverpool, April 18, 1865. 

u My dearest Annie, — There were five of us — Messrs. 
Watson, Duncan, Lewis, General Shortrede, and myself. 



DR. LIVINGSTONE. 



541 



besides a gentleman unknown, but who — as he was read- 
ing Stirling's account of Hegel's philosophy, and gave me 
a very intelligible account of it — must have been a meta- 
physician. We arrived at half-past eight, in time for half 
an hour of the Synod ; then here to a hearty supper ; and 
now, after a famous sleep, the like of which I trust you 
also had, I am tipping off this telegram at half-past eight, 
and when they are already waiting for me down-stairs. 
Adieu. Love to all. Be good (children), be happy 
(wife), and believe me, your ever affectionate husband, 

" James Hamilton." 

feom de. livingstone. 

" Burn Bank Road, Hamilton, 
June 21, 1865. 

" My dear Dr. Hamilton, — . . . We shall come to 
London about the middle of next week. I am much 
obliged by your very kind offer, but I am doubtful if I 
would not be doing you a great injury. I am so irregular 
in my hours that your house might get a bad name. 
Agnes and I were out too often past elders' hours, and we 
finished up at the hotel by getting Punch and Judy ex- 
hibited before three black boys brought home by Colonel 
Eigby. Mrs. Storey knew not we were going off next day, 
or I believe we should have had notice to 1 send ourselves.' 
I shall be delighted to meet Dr. Duff and Lady Pirie, but 
you must take the matter into consideration. I don't 
know that we shall misbehave, but you have full warning 
as to what we are capable of. — With kind regards to Mrs. 
Hamilton, yours, etc., D. L." 



542 



DR. LIVINGSTONE 



Dr. Livingstone accomplished his visit. It was a great 
enjoyment to both, and resulted in a fast friendship. One 
sees at a glance, on the face of this familiar note, that the 
great explorer enjoyed a buoyant, playful, youthful spirit, 
— indeed, if he had not possessed such a measure of light- 
ness (which is all the heavens different from levity), he 
would not have been a great explorer. Sprightliness in 
conversation is often the external expression of the spring 
within which constitutes the strength of a strong man 
Livingstone and Hamilton laboured in very different 
spheres, but were congenial spirits. 

FROM DE. LIVINGSTONE. 
"On board S.S. 'Massilia,' Aug. 25, 1865. 

"My dear Dr. Hamilton, — I enclose some stuff in 
accordance with your suggestion, and I fear that you will 
feel that you have made a bad bargain. It will require 
no end of polishing, erasure, and transformation, and 
when you have done all to it that it needs you will say — 
'Bless the fellow, it would have been better to have 
written it all myself/ I am trusting that my friend, Mrs. 
Hamilton, will interjaculate — c Serves you right/ 

"David Livingstone." 

" P. & O. S.S. < Massilia,' Aug. 26, 1865. 
" My dear Friend, — I sent you from Malta, or rather 
sent ashore at Malta, twenty- eight pages intended for 
you. I could not pay the postage, for we were treated 
like a lot of unclean beasts. The Maltese would not take 
anything from us except at the end of long poles, and 



IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



543 



tongs were used to open the boxes at the end of the same. 
Kobody durst touch anything belonging to us. . . . Ten 
days' quarantine. Cholera was in Marseilles, and we were 
supposed to be infected. We had a line of boats round 
us all night and day. The only chance of getting the 
letters home was by putting them into the ship's boats 
unstamped; so I hope my letter reached you, if not, it 
may still be in quarantine in Malta. We shall reach Alex- 
andria this day, Saturday, about three p.m., and go through 
to Suez to-night. Cholera was bad there ; sixteen engi- 
neers died on the line of railway, but it is said to be over 
now, and we go from the steamer into the railway cars, 
and off soon after we land, — Yours affectionately, 

" David Livingstone." 

The intrepid traveller was then starting on the journey 
which has not ended yet. Hope of his ultimate return 
has now revived after it had been almost extinguished. 
In the middle of 1868 he had been two years in the heart 
of Africa without a word from home. Of the many tid- 
ings that will reach his ear, when at last his relations 
with home are renewed, not the least sad will be the 
removal of that like-minded brother to whom he sent 
back these letters from Malta and Egypt. 

Dr. Hamilton's holiday this autumn was interrupted by a 
great sorrow, a severe and dangerous accident to his eldest 
son, a boy about fourteen years of age. One signal providen- 
tial alleviation he gladly and thankfully recognised, — that 
the injury, which was critical and painful, and needed much 
patient watching, was received while they sojourned undei 



544 ACCIDENT TO DR. HAMILTON'S SON 



the roof of Mrs. Strong, who with her sister, Miss Margaret 
Jaffray, contributed from an old deep fund of love such 
nursing as the wealth of a kingdom could not have bought. 
The friendship had its root in spiritual instruction imparted 
and received during that brief but precious ministry at 
Abernyte. The reciprocal affection that subsisted between 
the members of that family and Dr. Hamilton was alto- 
gether paternal ; for him it lasted a lifetime, for his widow 
and children it survives unimpaired to this hour. 

Mrs. Strong, with her daughter, and occasionally her 
sister, occupied the manor-house of Quarter, Stirlingshire, 
as a country residence. 

" Quarter House, Denny, Oct. 10th, 1865. — We left Lon- 
don on the 14th of August. Never was there a more 
perfect holiday. Except two or three trifling engagements 
there was nothing to invade the leisure here, and at Tigh- 
nabruaich and Stonehouse we were perfectly at home ; the 
weather was wonderful, and morning by morning the 
children woke up to the sunshine and spent in the open 
air the livelong day ; and many a time had we repeated 
to one another our amazement at such unbroken health 
and happiness. We had arranged to return on Friday, 
September 29th, and on the afternoon of the previous day 
we dissuaded the boys (James and his cousin) from going 
to fish in the Carron, lest they should get damp feet and 
catch cold on the eve of our home-going. Instead of the 
river they went to the wood, and at dusk James was 
carried in by the coachman death-like and pale. He had 
been climbing the highest of the beech trees, and had 
fallen from a height of sixty-two feet. His descent had 



BY A FALL FROM A TEEE. 



545 



been interrupted by only one small branch, which, broke 
away with him, but which so far turned him from the head- 
long direction that he alighted on the breadth of his back. 
The preservation of his life is an interposition of Provi- 
dence to be held by us in perpetual remembrance, and 
what is still more wonderful no bone has been broken — 
unless it should prove that one of the vertebra? is fractured. 
He now lies on his back, with the motor nerves of one side 
paralysed, and I fear not yet out of danger. As regards 
plans, our position is one of blank uncertainty. Even 
should all proceed favourably it must be a long time before 
the poor invalid can be moved, and a long time of watch- 
ing and nursing awaits his dear mother. Even in this 
trial mercies abound. There is no friend under whose 
roof we could have rather chosen to be. The house is 
now more ours than Mrs. Strong's ; that good angel, Miss 
Margaret, is the best of nurses, and servants and all forget 
fatigue, and I never before felt so deeply the sustaining 
power there is in sympathy. As regards the sufferer him- 
self, I trust this will also prove for the best." 

" Quarter, Oct. 2, 1865. 
"My dear Minnie, 1 — This morning James is greatly 
better. At this moment (10 AM.) I am writing beside him, 
whilst he is reading his book, and whilst mamma, who, 
along with Miss Margaret Jaffray, watched him during the 
night, is getting some sleep. He has made more progress 
than I could have hoped after such a fall ; but the bruises 
on his legs require some one to be always at hand to rub 

1 Annie. 
2 M 



546 



SCENE AT DAWN. 



them or change their position, or do whatever the feeling 
of the moment requires. It is very interesting to watch 
the waking of the creatures — a sight which now-a-days I 
seldom see; but yesterday I rose at five, so as to give 
mamma some sleep. It was a dull, mild Sabbath morning, 
the trees somewhat tinted, as befits the first of October, 
but not a leaf stirring in the dim calm air. The oxen in 
the park were the first to rise, and very diligently did 
they mouth up the plentiful grass, which was all the wel- 
comer for being wet with dew, as the early night had been 
clear, and this season the cattle can scarcely get a drop to 
drink. It grew a little clearer, and as I looked out at the 
open window there was a sudden flutter of a sweet- 
chestnut branch, and a low 1 tchuk, tchuk,' as a squirrel 
jumped out of bed, and called his neighbour, another 
squirrel, who came slowly and rather sleepily down a tall 
larch. They soon began to gambol and play Blondin from 
branch to branch and from tree to tree, scattering leaves 
and drops of dew, and awakening finches, blackcaps, 
linnets, thrushes, and no end of little birds, who, although 
some of them looked a little surprised for the moment, 
soon commenced twittering and congratulating one another 
on the new day, and then began to look after their break- 
fasts. But the post has just come in, bringing me twenty- 
two letters. If you do not hear till you get mamma's 
Friday epistle, you may conclude that we are going on 
favourably. Here, as you know, we have all that kindness 
can provide, and we have only goodness and mercy to sing 
of. — Ever your affectionate father, James Hamilton. 
" We do not hope to get home this week." 



TRAVELLING BETWEEN LONDON AND SCOTLAND. 547 

It became now a severe aggravation of the father's trial 
that his child lay in a critical condition in Scotland, while 
he could not long be absent from his ministry in London. 
His plan, to some extent actually executed, was to spend 
part of each week in London and part in Scotland, — more 
than iOO miles away. 

TO MR. WATSON. 

" Quarter, Oct. 18, 1865. 
" James I found looking better. He gave an eager wel- 
come to the grapes which I brought from Mrs. Watson, 
and as I had also some from Mrs. Marshall, he is now 
plentifully supplied. They had got on pretty well during 
my absence, but on Saturday night violent palpitation 
came on, and at last they all got so anxious that they sent 
for the doctor. It has twice returned, but yielded to the 
prescription. There is yet no restoration of nervous 
activity. 

" For the remainder of the year I think I must count 
on mine being mainly a preaching ministry, — that is, 
after the Communion, for a month or two, I would like to 
be here as much as possible. I foresee nothing to hinder 
my going up on the Friday evening or Saturday, preach- 
ing on Sabbath, and returning on Monday morning or 
night, thus spending one or two working days each week 
besides the Sabbath in town, as the case might require. 

TO HIS WIFE. 

" October 28, 1865, in the train. 

" My dear Annie, — I hope that you and Aunt Maggie 
got no cold from standing so long in the shrubbery, and 



548 



"words on wheels/' 



waving your envoi. I was surprised to find the roads 
hard-frozen except in the shade, but passing through 
Denny there were not a few bare little feet toddling on 
the icy path. Nearly opposite Dunipace House were six 
oxen lying dead in a field, and with their drooped heads 
neither browsing nor ruminating, — most of the survivors 
looked sickly. I am here all alone in a second class 
carriage, and hope to post my letter at Carlisle or Preston. 
It is a lovely day, and I feel so much the better of the 
journey that I hope Mrs. Strong as well as you will 
arrange to get an airing. In your sermon on well-being 
and well-doing you must have a paragraph on this. It is 
not only the open air — the oxygen — which is exhilarating 
and strengthening, but the large space gives an amplifica- 
tion to our existence ; and, like a collier coming up from 
his mine, it is good to quit the work-room or sick-room 
for the garden or the public road. It seems to bring us 
at once nearer our neighbours and nearer God. Your task 
just now is peculiar and trying ; but if we are enabled to 
wait the Lord's leisure, I have no doubt that some great 
enlargement will follow. My love abides with all at 
Quarter. Mrs. Strong's kindness and Miss Margaret's 
are something that should never be forgotten in the his- 
tory of Christian friendship. Like the Ochils, the hills of 
Lanarkshire and Dumfries are all powdered with snow. 
And now, my only darling, the God of love be with you. 
Eat well, and sleep well, and keep well. When I get to 
town I mast make inquiry as to the means of transport 
for invalids, so that when the time — God's good time — 
comes, we may know how to proceed. — Your ever affec- 
tionate husband, J a.mes Hamilton." 



OR SERMONS WRITTEN IN THE TRAIN. 



549 



" Nov. 18, 1865, in the train. 

" My dearest Annie, — We are rtearing Preston, and 
having had a basin of soup at Carlisle, I am preparing to 
attack the sandwiches. My neighbour with the broken 
arm is quiet and peaceable, and does not interrupt me, 
and there are no more of us. I have finished my sermon 
with nearly five hours' writing, and think I shall bring 
out as ' Words on Wheels' a volume of sermons railway- 
written. The first of this kind which I did was on a very 
sad day — the Saturday that I left dear Jane dying at Carn- 
wath under the care of mamma, and the then as ever tender 
and true Aunt Margaret. It is also twenty-five years to-day, 
or yesterday, since leaving Abernyte. I returned to Edin- 
burgh with the purpose of never more leaving that beautiful 
city. A short-sighted and short-lived purpose ! Had it 
been adhered to, I should have missed the great long 
happiness of the last nineteen years. You too would have 
missed nursing a broken-backed laddie, and would not 
have been bothered with a husband running up and down 
to town to preach and attend Church Extension meetings. 
I hope you will make up to-night for your early rising. 
It is not nice in winter. Since leaving Lanarkshire the 
day proves mild and softly bright, and I am very com- 
fortable. And now, with much love to all around you, 
and praying that the God of peace and love may be with 
you, I remain, dearest, your ever affectionate husband, 

" J. Hamilton." 

" Quarter, Nov. 29, 1865. — On Monday I entered my 
fifty- second year, 3X17 = 51 ; other seventeen years would 



550 



SYMPTOMS OF OLD AGE. 



bring me on to sixty-eight, and I fancy that this is pretty 
nearly what an actuary would assign as my ' expecta- 
tion of life/ Even this I cannot say that I expect, and 
it is solemn and somewhat mournful to think that three- 
fourths of existence are past already. Within the last 
few months I have got a pair of spectacles, and the smaller 
kinds of print I cannot read without them. Other tokens 
of on-coming old age will follow ; indeed, they have come 
already. The figurative language I was once so fond of, I 
have nearly lost all liking for, and if I were following my 
own bent in preaching, it would be sober, explanatory, 
unimpassioned. Ambition has given place to indolence, 
and the grand projects with which I used to cheat myself 
I have ceased to cherish. Sydney Smith beguiled his lazy 
horse into a quicker pace by fastening a sieve of oats to a 
pole a little in advance of the creature's nose ; and through 
many a dreary day of calls and committees, and dry as 
dust documents, have I been carried by the hope that if I 
could only get through them, I might lawfully commence 
the Magnum Opus, Christian Ethics, The Life of Erasmus, 
A Mind, and what to make of it. But now the corn and 
beans are rattled in vain, and there is no make-believe in 
the wisp of clover. Eeports, circulars, business letters, 
forty or fifty a week, I write resignedly, and in the usual 
dull decent fashion in which such things should be done, 
and so shall continue till this hand forgets its cunning. 

" As far as extensive or abiding service goes, and as 
regards any fitting memorial of my own tastes and pur- 
suits, the opportunity is gone, and in the regrets of this mo- 
ment I fear there is quite as much of mortified vanity as of 



SELF-INSPECTION. 



551 



the more appropriate feeling. But when I advert to that 
work of the ministry, which was my calling, and such a 
high one, and when I think of my own walk through the 
midst of men, I see that my life has been a continual short- 
coming. No worthy motive, no deed out-and-out well done, 
recurs to my comfort ; and were it not that the possibility 
of these lines being read by others is a temptation to 
voluntary humility, I might enumerate many sins which 
did easily beset me, some of which seem only to have 
strengthened with the years. But whosoever may read 
these lines, I desire to record as my only comfort the truth 
which I have proclaimed to others. I believe in the 
forgiveness of sins. I believe in the mercy of God, and in 
the exhaustless efficacy of the great Atonement ; and al- 
though it is difficult to understand how such earthliness 
can be made at home in heaven, yet moments of a happier 
experience sometimes enable me to hope for a sphere 
where God's service will be the true self-indulgence — when 
in God's purest light there will be nothing to conceal; 
where, in the superiority of others to one's-self, will be 
nothing to awaken detraction or envy ; where love will be 
pure and gratitude permanent, and amidst just men made 
perfect, virtues may evolve of which at present I do not 
see so much as the germ, and evils pass away so old and 
inveterate that I do not remember their beginning. 

" Life has been full of God's goodness. A kinder mother, 
a father of loftier worth and nobler ways of thinking, no 
one ever had. The first years at college were desultory, but 
the whole were happy. Coming to Begent Square, if it was 
an empty church, it was a noble building, and one known 



552 



NUMBERING MERCIES. 



by name to Scotchmen and others ; and there were rare 
men in its Session. Mr. Msbet's ardour was very animat- 
ing ; there never was a man at once so sagacious and so 
tender-hearted as William Hamilton ; Mr. Gillespie and 
others were men of large intelligence and public spirit ; 
and without much shrewdness of my own, I have usually 
been able to see what is wrong and right when propounded 
by others. A congregation has gathered round me, not 
such as frequent the popular preacher, but one which I 
prefer, comprising many interesting and right- hearted 
young men, many serious and attentive hearers, and not 
a few of the most delightful and congenial friends. To 
crown all, I have such a home as I scarcely thought could 
be realized in a world of sin and sorrow. Children of 
various dispositions, but only made more interesting by their 
distinct individuality, all loving and all promising ; and 
a dear partner, God's best earthly gift, whose only fault 
is that excessive affection which may lead to overmuch 
sorrow." 

"48 Euston Square, Dec. 9, 1865. 
"After ten weeks' nursing we obtained a hesitating 
authorisation from the doctor, and determined to try the 
removal home of our patient. With the spinal injuries 
he has sustained, the prospect was very formidable ; but 
through the kindness of Mr. Eussell everything was done 
to complete and make comfortable the invalid carriage, 
which we had ordered from Euston Square, and, over and 
above, Mr. Johnstone had constructed a spring mattress, 
which could be also used as a litter or stretcher in carrying 
him from the house to the train. It was on Wednesday 



THE INVALID BROUGHT HOME. 



553 



morning, the 6th, that the experiment was to be made. 
Everybody was early astir, and in the lobby and all the 
rGoms of Quarter, the fires had been kept on all night. At 
seven, when we set forth, the short mid- winter day had 
not begun to dawn. Mrs. Strong and the servants, all 
wishing ns good speed, yet looking very sad, stood outside 
the door, and were soon lost in the darkness : and as the 
porters carried their living freight down the avenue, 
and Miss Margaret and William Crombie walked on either 
side, I could not help feeling what a much sadder pro- 
cession it might have been. Great heaps of fallen leaves 
lay rotting on the path, which, when we first arrived, 
was sultry with sunshine ; and from the grass fields the 
picturesque oxen, black, brown, dun, and dappled had 
been removed for fear of the rinderpest. It was a strange 
sight when we opened the Ingleston station — a passenger 
carriage, where none such had ever been before, an omnibus 
in the field beside it, both made visible by their own 
lamps, and the furnace light of the neighbouring colliery, 
and a few scarcely discernible figures awaiting our 
approach in silence. A grimy collier, who, without 
speaking a word, came forward to help into the carriage 
our mysterious burden, asked in a whisper, 'How long 
has he been dead ? ' This most ditficult part of the transit 
was safely effected, and in sixteen hours we were home. 
Blessings on the dear friends who have done all that the 
most devoted kindness could do to brighten this sojourn. 
And blessed be the Lord who has brought back the exiles, 
and who keeps our company still unbroken. What a 
strange thing is emotion, and how little we can count 



554 "FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS." 



upon ourselves ! After having had to face the possibility 
of leaving James and his mother, and the whole house- 
hold, the entire winter in Scotland, not to speak of a 
sadder alternative to which we could not shut our eyes, 
I should have expected that Wednesday would have been 
a day of great elation and excitement ; but beyond the 
sober certainty, and a quiet thankfulness, there was 
nothing of that restless joy or overflowing gratitude which 
ought to have been. And when, at the Euston terminus, 
the Watsons, and Mr. Johnstone, and Mr. Hill, and others, 
came round us on the platform, instead of falling on their 
necks and weeping, I do believe it was less ardent than 
our usual meeting. Fatigue might have something to do 
with it, but it looks as if, after a long pressure or weight 
— a ten weeks' tension — the mind lost something of its 
spring ; and even when the burden is taken off, it does 
not necessarily rebound at once to its former level. In- 
deed, acute feeling or excited emotion of any kind is 
seldom of long continuance." 1 

1 A note addressed at a subsequent date to Mr, D. Maclagan, on the occa- 
sion of his leaving London to settle in Edinburgh, reveals incidentally the 
vivid brotherly love that subsisted between him and his fellow- workers. Mr. 
Maclagan was associated with him especially in the church -building and debt- 
extinction movement : — 

" July 31, 1866. 

" My dear Mr. Maclagan, — Your abode in London has been a great lift to 
the good cause in England, and although we have no longer amongst us your 
wise counsels, and your wonderful power of working, the good impulse will go 
on, and it is very pleasant to know that we have in Edinburgh such a friend and 
ally. I sometimes wish that all the leaders of opinion in Scotland could sojourn 
here for a time : — Not that England has much to give to Scotland religiously, 
far less ecclesiastically ; but I do not see how Presbyterianism can ever become 
oecumenical without taking more into account the tastes and temperaments of 
different nations. One good result of your change, I trust, may be improve- 
ment to the health of Mrs.; Maclagan. Please to give her my kind regards. 
The Lord be with you and yours, and bless you more and more. Believe me 
ever yours most truly, James Hamilton." 



CHAPTEE XIII 



LATEST YEARS. 

Although Dr. Hamilton's memory had nothing of the 
prodigious in its character, he was able, through a very 
vivid association of ideas, to recall events and circum- 
stances from a deep past, and make them march in line 
under the light of the present for the purpose of being 
reviewed and re-judged. These reminiscences, when some 
current fact called them up, were always lively and pic- 
turesque, and always turned to some practical account. 

When an effort was made, a few years ago, by the lead- 
ing men of Glasgow to collect money for the erection of 
that superb palace which now crowns an eminence on the 
western margin of the city, nearly ready to receive from 
the old dingy tenement in the High Street the whole 
living corporation of the College, a circular soliciting sub- 
scriptions was addressed, among others, to the minister of 
Eegent Square. This was precisely the hind of circum- 
stance that was fitted to touch the wire, and call forth, as 
if by telegraphic despatch, all his own experience as a 
student at Glasgow. The result was a paper, in the form 
of a leader in a London weekly, commending heartily the 



556 



GLASGOW COLLEGE. 



scheme, but also throwing out some caustic hints regard- 
ing past delinquencies and future reforms. 

The panorama of the past, which rises here as by the 
touch of a magician's wand, is an almost startling spec- 
tacle. This- inexorable conjuror compels the spirits to 
come from the vasty deep, each in the costume- and cha- 
racter he was wont to wear. The brilliant and the dull, 
the more and the less respectable, must march past in 
this royal review, and each must be valued at what he is 
worth. 

Believing that this paper is of very great historical and 
critical value, we subjoin all the more important portions 
of it, omitting only one or two pungent allusions, and some 
unimportant details at the close. It is valuable equally 
in a subjective and an objective point of view : in sketch- 
ing the College he incidentally exhibits himself : — 

" Oct. 28, 1865. 

" Thirty years have passed away since we put off the red 
robe of the Glasgow student, and took a regretful leave of 
the quaint old quadrangles, where every form was familiar. 
It was a cosy, warm-hearted College. The students were 
very clannish. They drew close together, and, amidst all 
their rivalries, they were proud of one another ; and like most 
other coteries, had great confidence in their collective destiny. 
It was the period of the Reform Bill, and whilst some fore- 
saw that henceforward patronage would avail little without 
personal merit, a larger number felt the exhilarating, ani- 
mating influence which attends a great epoch, and burned 
their midnight oil, or declaimed in their mimic parliament, 
like men on the threshold of a new and brilliant dispensation. 

" But youthful hopes and sanguine prophecies are not al- 
ways fulfilled. Over several of the most talented and ardent 
fche grave was soon to close — Perrot and Lamont, Colquhoun 



EMINENT STUDENTS — PROFESSORS. 557 



and Halley, Blackburn and Morell Mackenzie ; and amongst 
those who survived some lost their health, others missed their 
opportunity, and a few, it is to be feared, grew lazy, or 
wrong-headed, or careless about their character, and are now 
somewhere or other buried alive. But Archibald Smith went 
to Cambridge and became senior wrangler; Tait went to 
Oxford and became a first-class man and a bishop ; Joseph 
Hooker went to the South Pole, or pretty near it, and became 
the foremost man among British botanists ; Bichardson, of 
Newcastle, went to Giessen, and became the favourite pupil 
of Liebig, and the most comprehensive and encyclopaedic of 
our chemists ; Cotton Mather went to India, and became one 
of the 'most accurate of modern Orientalists ; and Philip 
Bailey went back to England, and although he might have 
written something better than Festus, we do not think that 
he became by any means the worst of our poets. 

" Looking over lists, medical, clerical, civic, it is still flat- 
tering, amidst our own obscurity, to mark amid the lights of 
the nation many who were our contemporaries in those dis- 
tant days at Glasgow College. They were eager, high-hearted 
students, and on the whole had excellent instructors. True, 
Dr. James Couper was the Professor of Astronomy, and if he 
had any acquaintance with the heavenly bodies, it was quite 
unknown to earthly observers ; but as he never attempted to 
lecture, he was saved from those outbursts of juvenile mischief 
which converted the class-room of Jamie Miller into a perfect 
pandemonium. A droning sound from overhead, where 
M'Turk was maundering through a dreary abridgment of 
Mosheim, gave the impression that life was rather hum-drum 
in the garret devoted to divinity. But these were exceptions. 
Most of the professors were learned men, many of them suc- 
cessful teachers. Walker loved Latin much and English 
more ; and, set agoing by a picturesque description in Virgil, 
or a happy allusion in Horace, it was delightful to listen to 
the parallels which he rejoiced to accumulate from Dry den 
and Shenstone, from Pope and Cowper and Campbell. If 
Sandford was too rhetorical for Parliament, and too pedantic 
for popular authorship, he was a paragon of academic elo- 
quence ; and stirred by those brilliant orations which opened 



558 



PROFESSORS. 



each session, led into the heart of Homer and ^Eschylus by the 
rich and magnificent music which opened every door and re- 
cess, many of the students became enthusiasts for both the 
teacher and his topic ; and had he remained true to his first 
love, it almost looked as if a passion for ancient literature 
would have been revived in Scotland, and assuredly a large 
pervasion of scholarship would by this time have graced and 
ennobled the wealth of its western metropolis. 

" With admirable clearness, and affecting no needless origin- 
ality, Buchanan set forth the elements of psychology, and, 
treading in the steps of Jardine, his illustrious predecessor, he 
so conducted his logic class as to make it not only an intel- 
lectual palaestra, but an excellent school for the neglected art 
of English composition. As soon as Dr. James Thomson was 
brought over from Belfast, Euclid found an interpreter, and 
the chair of Eobert Simson was rescued from its long dis- 
grace. A more gentle, anxious, painstaking teacher could 
nowhere be found. Any solemn Highlander who appeared 
deeply exercised about surds and unknown quantities, was 
sure to enlist his sympathy; and a well-timed question at 
the close of the hour could scarcely fail to obtain an invita- 
tion to breakfast, and an explanation of the binomial 
theorem. And although ' old sensation,' the sobriquet which 
irreverent affection had fixed on the Rev. James Milne, was 
too feeble to throw any life into his ingenious lectures, he was 
regarded as no unworthy successor to Hutcheson and Reid ; 
and well aware of what was destined to come after him, the 
students sent a round-robin, begging that, old as he was, he 
would never think of resigning ; for, whether right or wrong, 
they preferred the last gleanings of Milne to the first-fruits of 
Fleming. By the medical students Dr. Harry Rainy was 
held in high honour, as well as the great oculist, Mackenzie ; 
but the pride of Glasgow College and the names of European 
renown were Dr. Thomas Thomson and Sir William Jackson 
Hooker — the former as gruff and ungainly in the lecture-hall 
as the - other was graceful and polished, but each a mighty 
master in his own sphere, and consequently enkindling in 
many a susceptible spirit a kindred enthusiasm. 

" The very building had its charms. Half-way between 



THE NEW COLLEGE. 



559 



the Cross and the grand old Cathedral, its dim class-rooms and 
dusky porticoes, reminiscent of Wodrow and Baillie, Zachary 
Boyd and Andrew Melville, to us it was no drawback that 
it lay far to the east, in the depths of old Glasgow. Even 
the Molendinar, painted many colours by the dye-works 
which it passed, was not without its charms ; for we were 
young, and in fancy could recall the time when it flowed 
through daisied meadows, and gave drink to St. Mungo and 
his flock before ' Glass-go ' began to flourish. Still, it must 
be owned that the New Vennel is not a charming neighbour- 
hood ; and as few students now lodge in the Saltmarket or 
Gallowgate, it is natural that the College should wish to follow 
the town to the banks of the Kelvin. 

" A favourable opportunity has occurred. Some railway, 
or other company, has given a hundred thousand pounds for 
the existing site and premises, and on a commanding site it 
is proposed to build — from plans by Scott, and at an outlay 
of over £300,000 — the new Glasgow College. To carry out 
the scheme, subscriptions are invited ; and, with such a spirited 
chief-magistrate as Provost Blackie, with Mr. Orr Ewing for 
Dean of Guild, and with a representative of the city so elo- 
quent and popular as Mr. William Graham, himself an alumnus 
of the University, and with the well-known munificence of 
Glasgow merchants, we should not wonder though this large 
contribution were obtained, and a structure reared fit for the 
palatial home of learning, and the crowning ornament of 
Scotland's largest city. 

" To a share in this subscription it seems that we southerners 
are to be invited. We feared that Alma Mater had forgotten 
us. Since we paid our last guineas, and gained our last prizes, 
we have been toiling on in our various departments, serving 
our generation to the best of our ability, and trying to do no 
discredit to the seminary where we studied, any more than 
to the land which gave us birth. And to all of us, it would 
have been pleasant to find that a few at least were remembered 
and recognised. But although the shower of honorary degrees 
has been copious and incessant, and although it happens that 
the largest Presbyterian congregations in Liverpool, Man- 
chester, and London are presided over by ministers from 



560 INFLUENCE OF THE COLLEGE ON THE CITY. 



Glasgow College, by a curious coincidence they have all escaped. 
In the same way, in the list, for the last ten years, of those 
whom the Senate has delighted to honour with ' LL.D.,' we 
look in vain for such men of European renown as Hooker of 
Kew, Richardson of Newcastle, Thomson, late of Calcutta, 
and the Master of the Mint, Professor Graham. But now 
that money is wanted, it is not unlikely that the Senate may 
call to remembrance ' distinguished alumni ' in England. 1 

" Every seventh year, at least, the member of Parliament 
must come to his constituents ; but it is at remoter intervals 
that a college faculty is called upon to give an account of its 
stewardship. The present is one of those rare occasions. 
The Glasgow Professors want money ; they appeal to the 
public ; and the public may tell them a little of their mind, 
and even try to obtain a pledge or two for the future. And, 
first of all, whilst we hope that Glasgow will now do a great 
deal for the College, we deem it a great disgrace that the 
College has hitherto done so little for Glasgow. There is no 
city in the empire where a band of enlightened and public- 
spirited residents might do more to diffuse a taste for scholar- 
ship and science than in the great western capital, where 
there are thousands of young men available for evening classes, 
and hundreds of citizens ready to subscribe largely to every 
scheme of rational improvement. On the other hand, here 
are more than twenty professors, most of them undistracted by 
other occupations, in the enjoyment of a handsome income, 
with a holiday which lasts half the year ; and what have they 
done for the intellectual improvement of the community 1 — 
for its elevation, social, moral, spirituals The colleges of 
London have their evening classes, where hard-wrought pro- 
fessors, returning from their brief recess, when the toils of the 
day are ended, resume by night, and, to a crowded concourse, 

1 Through excess of affection for the historic colleges of Scotland, Dr. 
Hamilton, we think, errs by overrating the importance of their procedure on 
this head. The question has fallen into such a position that the discussion of 
it seems altogether profitless. Through the profuseness and lack of discrimina- 
tion which have characterized the dispensation of honorary academic degrees, 
both at home and abroad, their value has long been nil. Since the first edition 
was published, the editor has learned that the College of Glasgow has resolved 
to reform this department of their administration. 



THE HUNTERIAN MUSEUM. 



561 



communicate those truths and principles which go far to 
expand the minds of their hearers, and make them not 
sciolists, but enlightened and observant citizens. Which of 
the Glasgow professors have gone and done likewise % And 
both in London and in Manchester a chief element in every 
effort at general progress, and a vital element in society, are 
the men who adorn their academic institutions ; but among 
all the monks of the Molendinar, which are the men who take 
the place in Young Men's Christian Associations and Colleges 
for the Working Classes, in town libraries and institutions for 
popularizing science, which has so long been taken elsewhere 
by Principal Scott and Dr. Leone Levi, by Professor Masson 
and Professor Maurice % Looking over, in the Almanac, the 
directorate of the literary and philosophical institutions in 
Glasgow, the College is conspicuous for its absence; and, 
whatever may be the merits of individual professors, we 
believe that as far as any express effort is concerned, as much 
might have been done for the elevation and refinement of 
Glasgow society had the University seat been Iona. 

" There is one other point on which we think the million- 
naires now subscribing to the College should try to get pledges 
— we mean the College Museum. All the world knows what 
a noble collection John Hunter's Museum has become under 
the management of the College of Surgeons in London ; we 
doubt if any one can conceive the state of dowdyism and 
neglect into which Dr. William Hunter's bequest has subsided 
under the management of the Principal and Professors of 
Glasgow. Last August we paid our shilling, and were ad- 
mitted by a boy, who appeared as the sole representative of 
keeper and sub-keeper, to rooms resplendent with Titians, 
Correggios, and Raffaelles, and at the same time ridiculous 
with trumpery curiosities, and with specimens of natural his- 
tory named after the style of a penny peep-show. In the 
lower apartments the odour of dank neglect and incipient 
decomposition made us tremble for the fate of anatomical pre- 
parations which we had used to regard as priceless ; and, ascend- 
ing to the summit, we found ourselves surrounded by dusty piles 
of books, a moment's glance at which revealed Schweynheims 
and Caxtons sufficient to drive a book-worm distracted. It was 




562 



THE ACADEMIC STAFF. 



in vain that we endeavoured to obtain a nearer view of those 
treasures. There was no catalogue; a disconsolate-looking 
foreigner, who sat transcribing a manuscript, could give us no 
access ; and the boy, who represented the Professor of Natural 
History and his deputy, could only take the shilling; he could not 
open the presses. But if the merchants of Glasgow build a palace 
for the College, we trust that they will take care that Dr. Hunter's 
design is carried out, and that, relieved from rubbishy accom- 
paniments, and no longer a light under a bushel, when re- 
sidents or strangers go to visit the Museum, they shall see 
not only a few stuffed skins, and a series of anatomical pre- 
parations, but a fine picture gallery, a rare series of typogra- 
phical incunabula and first editions, and a cabinet of coins 
matchless in Britain, and only surpassed by one Continental 
collection. 

" Of the existing professors few are yet known to fame ; but 
if Drs. "William Thomson and Macquorn Bankine, Mr. Yeitch, 
and the Bev. Dr. Caird, may be accepted as representatives, 
there is in the academic staff no lack of acquirement or in- 
tellectual power; and, for willingness to accept or initiate 
improvements, Principal Barclay is surely a great advance on 
that 1 tough old Tory ' his obstructive predecessor. On such 
a body, if public opinion is brought to bear at this juncture, 
we are not without hope that a new era may commence in 
its history. Instead of receiving only a third of its students 
from Glasgow itself, and emerging from its habitual obscurity 
only once a year, when a stranger comes to be installed as 
rector, let us hope that, in its migration to a new locality, it 
may become so attractive to the youth of the city, and so 
aggressive on the surrounding society, as to be the light of 
the Lowlands, and the great source of mental invigoration 
and aesthetic refinement to the vast population rising 
round it." 

In March 1866, Dr. Hamilton visited Scotland, in the 
interests of Church Extension in England. From Edin- 
burgh he writes to his wife : — 

" It is such a blessing to get good accounts from home, 



WEST CHURCH BURYING-GROUND, EDINBURGH. 563 



and none but good. I suppose yon filter or strain the 
news, and keep the bad to yourself. The congregations 
yesterday were tremendous, both in St. George's and St. 
Mary's, but I do not know about the collections. Saw num- 
berless friends, — Mrs. Alex. Hamilton and her daughters, 
James Marshall, jun., from Hampstead (who sent his love 
to James), Lord Cowan, Lord Ardmillan, Sir D. Brewster, 
Professor Blackie, etc. The singing in St. George's is 
very fine." 

"Edinburgh, Saturday, March 17, 1866. 
"Went into the West Kirk Burying-ground, the little 
side avenue next to Princes Street, where lie the remains 
of my gentle sister Mary, and of our faithful old Susan. 
At the further end was a lady, and, not to disturb her, I 
lingered near the entrance. I soon saw, however, that it 
was Mary's grave which she was looking at, and, going 
forward, my tread on the ground made her turn round. 
It was Miss Jessie Cameron. She was very much sur- 
prised. ' Yes, very often on a Saturday, I pay a visit to 
those blessed ones ; to Mr. Wilkie, and my father in the 
Greyfriars, and to your sweet sister here. Nor has there 
been a night these eight-and-twenty years, when I have 
not named in prayer all that are left of your dear family.' 
Such a holy love, such truth and tenderness of affection, 
are unspeakably precious, and I am glad that I can under- 
stand them. A rare and pleasant home it was in 50 George 
Square, under my mother's endearing presidency; our- 
selves still ignorant of the evil in the world, and rich in 
delightful friends : Mr. Wilkie (minister of Greyfriars), 
Dr. Huie, James Halley, Braidwood, Smeaton, Arnot, and 



564 



OBITUARIES. 



our own and our sisters' contemporaries, — an atmosphere 
of perfect sincerity and openness, animated by sufficient 
vivacity and intelligence, and shone through by light 
from heaven. 

" My interruption sent Miss C. away, and I copied the 
inscription : — * The burying-ground of the family of the 
Rev. Dr. Hamilton, of Strathblane.' 'Mary Hamilton, 
his second daughter, born 12th April 1820 : died 5th 
Nov. 1838.' ' Susan Macfarlane, an attached servant, died 
11th May 1842, aged 45 years/ 

" ' Mrs. Lilias Craig, relict of Lieut.-Col. Kernan, died 
Dec. 1845 ; and her sister, Marion Craig, died 8th June 
1849 : both of Strathblane, who requested to be buried 
here.'" 

"Quarter, March 20, 1866. 

" My dearest Annie, — Accompanied by Miss Jaffray, 
I arrived safely here at two. It was very interesting to 
draw near Larbert, Denny, and other places so familiar, 
and really it was touching to find at the stations every 
body asking so kindly for 1 the son/ 

" Thank James for his letter. I am delighted to hear 
of his exploits in the way of sitting up. I went out and 
visited the wood, saw the now celebrated tree ; called ou 
the Crombies and their seven children." 

" 2 Sandyeord Place, Glasgow, 
March 22, 1866. 

" My dearest Annie, — Yesterday the Union Committee 
ended at one ; so I had time to go and see the Edinburgh 
Academy Exhibition. It has many nice landscapes, and 



LETTER TO MR. GEORGE DUNCAN. 



5G5 



J. Napier's ' Edith.' After that went to Blair's for lunch, 
where I showed the two divines your eight-page letter, tak- 
ing care, however, not to let them read it, and telling them 
that I had one every other day, so that they were filled 
with admiration and envy. Came here with Dr. Buchanan 
and Dr. Duncan in time for dinner, and then had a capital 
meeting in the Queen's Booms in the evening. A good 
sleep followed, and now a most lovely morning. Am 
going to hear the Inaugural Address of the Lord Bector 
Inglis." 

To Mr. George Duncan, an elder of Begent Square, in 
a time of family affliction, he writes : — 

"48 Euston Square, May 2, 1866. 
" With two such precious ones invalids under your roof, 
most deeply do we feel for you, and often do our prayers 
arise for you and dear Mrs. Duncan ; nor can we cease to 
hope that He who has so often been the present help will 
yet in His wonderful goodness interpose and turn this 
captivity. * All His saints are in His hand,' and it is a 
joy unspeakable to think that in any alternative it must 
be well with herself ; but it is sad to think of such pain 
and helplessness, — sad, too, to think of the lengthened 
trial to yourself and her fond mother, and all the affec- 
tionate watchers beside her. A few grants were made by 
the committee yesterday, but there was no business of 
any difficulty. I am sure that it is far better that Mrs. 
Duncan should be kept perfectly quiet and uninterrupted, 
and all those who are around her whom it is best for her 
to see. But if she were any day fancying a five minutes' 



56G 



LETTER FROM AN 



visit from her minister, I need not say how gladly I would 
run down any morning or afternoon. J. H." 

From time to time I have admitted illustrations, from 
private letters, of the great affection and esteem with 
which Dr. Hamilton was regarded by Christians in the 
United States. I have omitted altogether the eulogiums 
that I have found scattered throughout the periodical 
literature of America, in the form of spontaneous reviews, 
as well as letters from correspondents travelling in England. 
It is due, however, both to the memory of the departed, 
and to the many warm-hearted Americans who loved him, 
to intimate that they did him justice in public as well as 
in private. In the present day nothing can be more de- 
lightful than to observe the readiness and generosity with 
which Christian men on the other side of the Atlantic 
observe and acknowledge whatever is lovely and of good 
report on this side. 

From one letter more let an extract be given ; in this 
case from a gentleman who resided in the Southern 
States : — 

"New Okleans, June 25, 1866. 
"Rev. James Hamilton, D.D., London. 

"Deae Sir, — While travelling in England with my 
family, during the year 1858, 1 had the pleasure of forming 
your acquaintance, through the intervention of a gentle- 
man who was then, I believe, a Member of Parliament 
from Edinburgh. The event has, doubtless, escaped your 
memory, or been crowded out by more important matters. 
I also attended your ministry. Since then it has been one 



AMERICAN BARRISTER. 



567 



of the dreams of my life to return to England, and spend 
the remnant of my days there. 

" The convulsion through which this unfortunate coun- 
try has so lately passed, and the sufferings consequent 
upon it, have greatly increased my desire to leave it. But 
this will be attended with expense, and I have only a 
limited fortune left. 

" That you may form an opinion of the sort of society 
likely to suit me, I would take the liberty of stating that 
I am a member of the bar, have been for some years a 
judge in one of the high courts of the State of Louisiana, 
fond of books, and of the society of literary men. As, 
however, my fortune is much reduced, I cannot, even were 
I so disposed, indulge in fashionable life. What I need 
most now is calmness and quiet, and intercourse and com- 
munion with cultivated and religious society. 

"I believe I can find all this in London, and would 
prefer it among the members of your congregation. 

" Permit me to say, in conclusion, that you still preach 
on the banks of the Mississippi, through the precious 
volumes you have given to the world, and that life has 
been a more earnest thing to many of us by their perusal. 

" Earnestly invoking the richest blessing of our common 
Father upon yourself and your labours, — I am, very truly 
yours, Jno. M'Vea." 

" Oct 26, 1866. — Yesterday I sent the printer the last 
sheet of The Parable of the Prodigal Son. It contains the 
essence of a dozen sermons preached during this month 
and at midsummer last. Much of it was written in the 



568 



" THE PRODIGAL SON." 



early morning before breakfast, — a time which I would not 
choose for study, because it makes the latter part of the 
day dull and stupid, but I frequently have no other time 
available. To visitors I always try to be polite and 
affable, and they are apt to conclude that I have abund- 
ance of leisure. And visitors are very numerous. One 
Monday lately Ann counted the number of times that the 
door-bell rang, and it was forty-five times before twelve 
o'clock. In this way, for four or five of the working days, 
the golden hours from nine to half-past one are frittered 
away. At two, after a hasty dinner, I go out to visit, and 
the evenings are almost invariably bespoken. So I envy 
the like of my late friend Dr. Morrison, Mr. Jay, Adam 
Gib, and old Dean Milman, who are or have been early 
risers. 

" A curious accident befell the first section of the Pro- 
digal. I had preached it on the first Sabbath morning of 
July, and, coming home, laid it on the study table beside 
another manuscript containing an outline of the intended 
course, with various topics I meant to touch upon. I 
suspect it must have been poor little Ada, who, in 
arranging the study table, thought it best to transfer all 
such litter to the waste-paper basket ; for two days after 
I missed the two manuscripts, and asked the servants if 
they had seen them anywhere. Isabella said she had seen 
two sermons in the waste-paper basket when she took it 
down-stairs the day before, and as she had not rescued 
them, she supposed they had been used to light the kitchen 
or nursery fire. Next Sabbath I asked for notes, if such 
there might be. A good many were sent, and with their 



HIS SON-IN-LAW. 



569 



help I re-wrote the Fatherland, as now it is printed, but 
the ' outline ' was beyond recall." 

On this occasion a member of the congregation taught 
himself shorthand in order that he might be able to re- 
port the sermons. 

The discourses on the Prodigal were first published in 
a handsome illustrated volume, and afterwards in a smaller 
and cheaper form. 

To his brother, on March 12th, he writes : — "We have 
been greatly saddened by the rumoured death of Dr. 
Livingstone. As once before, it may turn out unfounded, 
but I fear. Our people know him so well, that I could 
not avoid making his life and labours the main subject on 
Sabbath evening, with the needful caveat, that we may 
venture to hope his life and labours are not ended yet." 

A letter to the Eev. H. M. Gunn very pleasantly intro- 
duces a new member into the family circle. The marriage 
of his eldest daughter contributed to cheer his heart under 
his own increasing infirmity, and lighten materially, in 
prospect of his own departure, his solicitude for those 
that were left behind : — 

"London, Feb. 27, 1867. 

"My dear Friend, — ... I liked Frederick Wills 
from the first, and now I like him more : indeed, it has 
got beyond liking. Since his declaration he is more free, 
elastic, and open, and I feel as if I understood him fully. 
He is thoroughly noble and unaffected and true, and there 
is such a fine music in his manners, such a nice way of 
saying the right thing, as well as of parrying awkward 
things, that even outsiders are at once taken with him. 



570 



ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF 



Now that the first flutter is over, they both seem pro- 
foundly happy, and I trust that in the loving-kindness of 
the Lord they may have many useful, joyful years together." 

As Dr. Hamilton took a leading part in the preparation 
and introduction of the Book of Psalms and Hymns, which 
was finally adopted by his Church, it becomes necessary 
to submit some notices of its rise and progress. 

A small collection of hymns had been introduced as 
early as 1857 ; but it failed to give satisfaction. The de- 
mand for a larger and more varied selection increased and 
prevailed. 

After several unsuccessful attempts to accomplish the 
object by the direct action of the Supreme Ecclesiastical 
Court, the promoters constituted themselves into an in- 
formal committee, and took the matter into their own 
hands. This was done, however, with the full knowledge, 
and even with the tacit consent, of the members, but with- 
out the formal sanction of the Synod. 

With unflagging zeal and perseverance this voluntary 
brotherhood prosecuted their chosen task. In a spirit of 
prayer and love and patience, they persevered until all 
difficulties were surmounted, and a manual of praise was 
produced, which is in some respects unique and unrivalled. 
It contains, first, all the Psalms, according to the version 
used in the Scottish Churches, and then a collection of five 
hundred hymns, with appropriate music for each printed 
at the top of the page. No pains were spared. Nothing 
was omitted that diligence and skill, and the collision of 
many competent and independent minds, could achieve. 
In Dr. Hamilton's correspondence I find letters sent 



THE BOOK OF PSALMS AND HYMNS. 



571 



out in all directions, asking suggestions regarding the 
value of tunes as well as hymns, and permission, where 
there was copyright, to use them. 

Several members of that happy band have expressed to 
me, with enthusiasm, that the time spent in the work, 
while it was a period of anxious labour, was also a period 
of rare enjoyment and privilege. As iron sharpeneth iron, 
these men were quickened and edified by interchange of 
sentiment on the deep and tender themes with which they 
were so long and so minutely occupied. 

The account of their operations submitted to the minis- 
ters and elders of the Church is couched in these terms : — 
" Chiefly owing to its limited range, the small collection of 
hymns supplemental to the Psalmody of the Church of 
Scotland, which received the sanction of the Synod in 
1856, has failed to give general satisfaction, and there is a 
growing desire within our bounds for a larger command of 
that sacred minstrelsy which has done so much to enliven 
the worship of the various evangelical communions in 
England. Sharing that feeling, and believing that a good 
manual of psalmody might do much for the extension of 
our Church, as well as for the elevation of Christian senti- 
ment and affection within it, various ministers and elders 
combined their labours in the summer of 1865." The first 
draft was sent in the autumn to all the ministers, and 
many of the elders. Having considered, and to some 
extent adopted, the emendations suggested, the compilers 
presented their revised draft to the Synod in April 1866. 
The Synod gave it a general approval, and appointed a 
committee to revise it finally, with authority to publish it 



572 



THE SYNOD'S COMMITTEE. 



when completed for the use of the congregations. The 
same persons who had prepared the book, with three 
additional names, constituted the Synod's committee. 1 Dr. 
Hamilton was convener both of the voluntary and the 
authorized committees. Both before the Synod's act 
and after it, he devoted himself to this compilation with 
patriotic zeaL His love of hymns was an early love, 
and it had grown with his growth. With this department 
of sacred literature, as with others, he was minutely 
acquainted. 

But the hardest part of his task was the necessity of de- 
fending the work, in its principle as well as its details, from 
the persevering opposition of brethren within the Church. 
He and his fellow-labourers were precisely in the position of 
Nehemiah and the returned captives while they were re- 
building the walls of Jerusalem : they found it necessary 
to hold the trowel in one hand and the sword in the 
other. At one and the same time they constructed their 
hymn-book and defended their work against brethren 
who contended against the use of hymns in public wor- 
ship altogether. It was a conscientious opposition, con- 
ducted by conscientious men, and therefore it was all the 
more difficult to meet and overcome it. 

This was not a matter in which he could consent to be 



1 Dr. Hamilton. 
Dr. Munro. 
Dr. M'Crie. 
Mr. Chalmers. 
Mr. Ballantyne. 
Mr. Lewis. 
Mr. Saphir. 



Mr. Watson. 

Mr. H. M. Matheson. 

Mr. M 'Lagan. 

Dr. Lorimer. 

Mr. Thomson. 

Mr. J. T. Davidson. 



Mr. J. C. Paterson. 
Mr. Liindie. 
Mr. Dinwiddie. 
Mr. Keedy. 
Mr. J. Matheson. 
Mr. W. Bonar. 



" THE PSALTER AND HYMN-BOOK." 



573 



silent for the sake of peace. Duty and Christian liberty 
were, in his judgment, directly involved in it, and at all 
hazards he must go forward. His old weapon still lay at 
hand, and he was still able to wield it. He will again 
appeal to reason through the press. As a part of his 
argument was, in the first instance, addressed to his own 
congregation, the whole assumed the form of lectures. In 
the "Psalter and Hymn Book, three lectures," he spoke 
out frankly his whole mind on the subject. An extract 
from the Preface will explain the occasion and the cir- 
cumstances : — 

" Like all representative government, Presbyterianism offers 
good security against rash legislation as well as against need- 
less and empirical changes ; but it is quite possible that con- 
servatism may be carried too far, and that, ignoring the signs 
of the times, or laying undue stress on old custom and per- 
sonal preference, rulers of the Church may resist improvements 
till the demand shall cease, because the worshippers have gone 
elsewhere. And admirable as is that principle of mutual con- 
cession, which is needful to the harmonious working of any 
system, it is not always possible to wait till every one gives 
his cordial consent. If we do not march till all are ready, we 
may lose the campaign ; and, whilst the Greeks are co axin g 
Achilles, the Trojans may be winning the battle. 

" In the congregation of which the author is minister, the 
session lately agreed to superadd to the Psalms and Para- 
phrases of the Church of Scotland a small collection of hymns 
authorized by the English Synod. In taking this step, the 
session believed that they were meeting the wishes of their 
fellow-members and making a welcome addition to our psal- 
mody. As, however, some remonstrated against any addition 
to the ' time-honoured paraphrases,' and a few expressed con- 
scientious objections against using in the worship of God any- 
thing except the Psalms of David, a discourse was delivered 
in vindication of the session's procedure, and two further 



574 



OBJECTIONS TO THE USE OF 



lectures on the subject generally of Christian psalmody, — the 
substance of which afterwards appeared in the British and 
Foreign Evangelical Review for April 1865. Nevertheless, as 
it was still maintained that the session had acted in ignorance 
of the mind of the people, the minister, on his own responsi- 
bility, invited the members of the church to express their 
preference. Of five hundred and fifty-four who sent in their 
names, five hundred and three were in favour of the hymn- 
book, and fifty-one against it. Like good Presbyterians, most 
of the minority have since acquiesced, and, before long, we 
have little doubt that some of the recent opponents of hymns 
will be among their warmest admirers. Nay, we venture a 
little further ; and just as to ' them that are without ' we have 
found it difficult to make intelligible the point presently at 
issue, so to a following age we believe that it will be matter 
of mere amazement that the self-same persons who subscribed 
for the evangelization of the Jews, should have earnestly con- 
tended against the Christianization of the only part of worship 
in which a voice is permitted to the Christian people." 

Some earnest men in the Presbyterian Churches of this 
country take the ground maintained by one or two of the 
smaller communities in America, of opposition to the use 
of hymns in the public worship of God. They differ a 
good deal however among themselves, both as to the extent 
and the grounds of their opposition. Some think it wrong 
to sing in public worship anything except the Psalter, 
while others would admit in addition to the Psalms, trans- 
lations of other portions of Scripture. There is another 
section who count themselves somehow bound to sit while 
they sing, and some of these felt constrained to sever their 
connexion with Eegent Square Church because the con- 
gregation in singing praise substituted the standing for 
the sitting posture. 

This simple statement will show to the general Christian 



HYMNS AND PARAPHRASES. 



575 



community the necessity which Dr. Hamilton's position 
imposed upon him, of contending not only for freedom of 
expression in praise, as in prayer, against those who would 
limit it to the express words of Scripture, but of contend- 
ing for liberty to sing praise in the very words of the Bible 
against some who pretend to exclude all but one book of 
it. The creed which threw itself across his path is a re- 
markable phenomenon. Because the book of Psalms is a 
divine supply of matter for praise, you are prohibited from 
using any other ; but although it is also and as completely 
a divine supply of matter for prayer, you may employ 
human language in public prayer to any extent, provided 
always that the sentiment be scriptural. Again, it holds 
that you may add in human language as much as you 
please to the Psalms in praising God, as long as you only 
say it ; but the moment you presume to sing it you sin. 
Further, it holds that in private worship you may sing 
hymns freely as praise to God, but that in public worship 
you may not ; but it fails to draw a dividing line between 
what is private and what is public worship for the instruc- 
tion of the simple. 

He was distracted between contempt for this narrow and 
inconsistent creed, and respect for the good men who held 
it. Through the difficulties he vigorously pushed his way, 
until his views gained the ascendant in the Church ; but 
he did not survive to see the improved and enlarged 
Psalmody actually introduced. The book, however, re- 
mains as his testimony to the Church. Every line of it 
passed under his eye. He accorded to it his hearty ap- 
proval. It has already been the means of enlivening the 



576 



HIS LATEST PUBLIC LABOURS. 



praise in many a sanctuary. It has been adopted by the 
Presbyterian Churches in New South Wales, in Victoria, 
and New Zealand. It is used by congregations in Ireland, 
at the Cape, and in India. The Booh of Psalms and Hymns 
survives as the building on which, along with kindred 
spirits, he laboured in his latest years; and his three 
lectures on Psalmody, separately published, remain as the 
argument by which he justified and defended his course. 

In view of the great importance he attached to this 
subject, and the long labour he bestowed upon it, it is 
interesting to learn that a lecture on psalms and hymns 
was the latest public act of his life outside the walls of 
his own church. On Wednesday, 2 2d May 1867, in con- 
nexion with the adoption of the Synod's Hymn Book, he 
lectured with all his accustomed felicity and power in 
Islington Presbyterian Church. Mr. Davidson, the minis- 
ter, testifies that he exhibited on that occasion even " more 
than his usual vivacity and humour: It was listened to 
by a large audience, who were beyond measure delighted. 
The effort seemed to tell upon his then declining strength ; 
for I was much struck with his worn-out appearance in 
the vestry afterwards, and his expressed longing for rest" 

On the succeeding Sabbath, 26th May, he preached 
forenoon and evening in Eegent Square. The sermon in 
the evening was on the Tree of Life, Eev. xxii 2 ; and 
therewith his public ministry was closed. He did not put 
his hand again to the work he loved so well It was 
the Father's will, though not at that time revealed to his 
servant, that, after a few weeks of waiting, he should ob- 
tain the Rest he longed for, and find it a rest for ever. 



SUGGESTIONS REGARDING A COLLEAGUE. 5*77 



On the first three working days of the week he attended 
to his ordinary duties. On Thursday he " struggled with 
a sermon for the following Sabbath," but was frequently 
obliged to desist, and throw himself on the sofa for rest. 
In the afternoon he went out to Hampstead, to visit Mr. 
James Anderson, and remained there about three weeks. 

The last official act of his ministry was to preside at a 
meeting of Session in his own house on the evening of 
Monday 3d May. 

During this time preparations were going on for the 
marriage of his daughter; and as he contemplated a journey 
to the Highlands of Scotland, to visit his friend Mr. Hugh 
Matheson, he greatly desired to have the union completed 
before his departure for the North. To Mr. John Grant, 
one of the deacons, who, living near, and being both loving 
and alert, was hand and foot to him in everything he 
needed concerning the church during the anxious months 
of his final illness, he writes : — 

"June 14, 1867. 

" My dear Mr. Grant, — For both your letters many 
thanks. The first was very cheering to a disconsolate in- 
valid, with its Eegent Square news, and its chapters of 
Christian philosophy. If it is the will of God that I 
should ever return to my post, I own I should like to be 
released from a portion of my present responsibility ; but 
there is no plan to which I am wedded. Whatever is best 
for Eegent Square, and for the cause of the Gospel and 
our Church in London, will be to me the most satisfactory; 
but the first requisite is a general and hearty agreement 
amongst ourselves. I saw Mr. Watson and Mr. Petrie on 

2 o 



578 



RESIDENCE AT ELTHAM. 



Wednesday evening, and told them, much to the above 
effect, my views. Perhaps the brethren may not be able 
all at once to decide what is best; but to any scheme 
which generally commends itself, it is not likely that I 
shall be any obstruction ; and I do feel deeply grateful to 
those who, like yourself, have so much at heart my own 
comfort and the welfare of the flock. J. Hamilton." 

Believing from the first that this illness "was unto 
death," he urged his friends to take immediate measures 
for obtaining a colleague who might also be successor. 1 

About the middle of June he removed from Hampstead 
and went to reside at Eltham, in Kent, under the hospit- 
able roof of Mr. Boyd ; but no permanent benefit was de- 
rived from the change. A turn in the garden, or a short 
drive in the evening, measured the extent of his exertion. 
He was languid ; did not like to be looked at ; pointed 
sometimes feebly to the setting sun, seemed sad, and un- 
able to enjoy anything; unlike himself. On the 27th of 
June, a sudden increase of his ailment greatly alarmed his 
friends, by showing what seemed symptoms of paralysis ; 
but this feature soon disappeared again. To such am ex- 

1 He continued to interest himself in the efforts made by the congregation to 
obtain a suitable colleague, but his friends, though they greatly desired it, 
were never able to cheer his heart by an announcement of success. The plan 
of Providence, as interpreted by events, was to give, not a colleague to their 
beloved pastor in his lifetime, but a successor to take up and carry on his 
work. When this volume entered the press, a little more than two months 
ago, the prolonged vacancy was trying their faith and patience ; but before its 
issue, we are enabled to intimate that such an appointment has been made and 
consummated as would have lightened the burden of James Hamilton's latest 
care, if he could have foreseen the event. The congregation have obtained as 
pastor the Eev. J. Oswald Dykes, who was formerly the colleague of Dr. Cand- 
lish in Edinburgh, and a ministry of very great promise has already begun. 



INCREASING ILLNESS. 



579 



tent at this time had the disease overcome his powers, 
that he failed to recognise his host Mr. Boyd when he 
returned after a few days' absence from home. Letters 
regarding the church were sometimes read to him; of 
these he would listen to a small portion, and then say, 
" It is enough, I can bear no more." 

A letter written at this time by Mrs. Hamilton to Mr. 
Matheson, who expected them in the Highlands, sets the 
scene before us with simplicity and fulness : — 

"Avery Hill, Eltham, Kent, June 29, 1867. 

"My deae Me. Matheson, — Your kind note was 
brought out to me yesterday. You and Mrs. Matheson 
will be deeply grieved to hear the turn that my precious 
husband's illness has assumed — paralysis of the brain, — 
which has been threatening all these weeks, and the first 
signs of which positively showed themselves on Wednes- 
day night. When giving him beef-tea, I found he could 
not hold the cup, and a few hours after sickness came on, 
and after that power of speech failed. He said to me, ' Oh, 
Annie, how curious I should be like this ! I cannot teE 
you, dear, what I wish to say.' He said it quite calmly 
and smilingly, and with a look of such pity, added, ' Poor 
lambie.' I was quite alone with him, and for some time 
could not leave or move from his side to ring the bell. 
We remained at Hampstead with our dear friends at 
Frognall until Thursday of last week, when we went to 
Euston Square for one night to receive our friend Mrs. 
Strong, who came up to be at Euston Square to help me, 
and enable me the more easily to remain here with my 
husband until the wedding-day. He seemed to feel the 



580 RESULTS OF EXCESSIVE WORK. 



air of London very withering, and was very anxious to 
come away as soon as possible. On Friday we came here, 
and we thought the quiet and pure air would soon show 
their reviving effect, and he certainly seemed more com- 
fortable, but so weak and exhausted as to be obliged to 
lie constantly on the sofa, and doze away, taking no inter- 
est in anything, and being 'quite unable to get up enjoy- 
ment for anything.' This he said himself. 

" We were much pleased with Dr. Kidd, and at once 
commenced his plan for invigorating him, but the being 
out so constantly as was wished, the driving, etc., were 
most wearying to him, and he seemed very desirous still 
to continue it if possible ; but the pain in the back, and 
then the pain in the head, and almost constant nausea, 
tried him terribly. And on Dr. Kidd's coming on Thursday 
morning, he told me the sad state the poor brain was in from 
over work. All yesterday and the day before he was 
quite conscious when spoken to, but could not put a sen- 
tence together, although he evidently understood all that 
was said, and quite knew those about him. 

" Yesterday afternoon he became much more tranquil, 
— for the constant restlessness, whether asleep or not, has 
been very terrible all along, — and really slept quietly and 
more naturally, and the same through the night, which 
are very favourable signs ; though he is, I think, not quite 
so able to reply to any question asked. On the whole, Dr. 
Kidd is pleased with the progress made so far, especially 
as the liver is now acting, and he really looks better than 
I have seen him for weeks, if not months. He has also 
great muscular strength. The doctor fears he may become 



THE CARE CAST ON THE LORD. 581 

liable to such attacks even should he rally from this one. 
All this we know is in higher hands, and our Heavenly 
Father gives us grace and strength according to our need ; 
and, having through all this sore trial been personally kept 
so calm and made willing to submit to my God and Father, 
I do acknowledge and praise Him for all He has done and is 
doing for me. Nothing but His love and power could make 
me feel as I do, and I believe He is hearing the many earnest 
heart-pleadings that are ascending so constantly for us, 
and He will do whatever is best for us, and make us see 
it in that light. I have written thus fully, as I well know 
there are no friends who will be more grieved or are more 
sympathizingly loving than your dear selves, and because 
you are so far away and cannot hear often. Your kind, 
kind wish to have him with you we both felt more deeply 
than we could at all express. You will be glad to know 
that here our kind friends do everything in every way for 
us both. Our God is indeed very good to us, leading us 
so gently and tenderly even in the midst of this sorest 
trial; and what comfort I have in knowing that it has 
been in his Heavenly Father's work that my beloved 
husband has become thus worn out, mentally and bodily ; 
and He may yet give restoring power, and give him back 
to us. We must trust Him, and leave all in His hands. 
With many, many thanks for all your love and kindness, 
and my true love to you and dear Mrs. Matheson, believe 
me, my dear friend, ever yours affectionately, 

"Annie H. Hamilton." 

The marriage of his daughter had been appointed to 
take place at London on July 3d, and he would not permit 



582 MARRIAGE OF HIS DAUGHTER. 



it to be postponed on his account. Two brief notes, one 
to the bride and another to the guests, were dictated to 
Mrs. Hamilton, and signed by his own hand. 

It was soothing to his spirit in that hour of weariness 
to know that his wife had obtained a son, and his younger 
children a brother, whose arm might support their weak- 
ness when his own should be paralysed or altogether 
withdrawn. 

TO THE BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM. 

"JulyS, 1867. 

" I send my affectionate regards to the bride and bride- 
groom. I pray for them that they may live in love and 
in every virtue ; that they may live long, and live for ever. 
(As a friend said to me the other day), there is nothing 
before them but goodness and mercy and love. 

" James Hamilton." 

to the guests. 

"I return my grateful thanks to Mr. Gunn and my 
brother, Eev. W. K. Hamilton. I send my kindest regards 
to Mr. and Mrs. Wills, and my cordial salutations to all 
the dear friends now assembled. I would fain have been 
with you myself, but I trust that, beyond all the welcome 
guests, the Lord Jesus Himself has been present. 

" James Hamilton." 

from mrs. hamilton. 

"Avery Hill, Eltham, Kent, 
July 8, 1867. 

"My dear Mr. Matheson, — I am so thankful to be 
able still to give you good news of him. The doctor 



A MEASURE OF REVIVING. 



583 



thinks he is making daily progress. He himself counted 
the days to the wedding, and as after Sabbath he felt him- 
self getting better, he thought he would be spared ; and as 
each day showed some improvement, he was well enough 
to spare me by Wednesday, and at his own especial wish I 
went to be present at the marriage. This, of course, was 
a great joy to all in the midst of the dark cloud which 
hung so sadly over all for days before. He dictated a 
message of love and blessing to the bride and bridegroom, 
as well as a message to the dear friends who were there 
assembled, and signed his name to each. We have, in- 
deed, felt God's goodness, mercy, and love in very large 
measure ; and our hearts would be ever filled with deepest 
gratitude, and love and praise. The true kind love and 
sympathy of friends, far and near, has been quite over- 
whelming, and a source of such comfort. I do believe it 
is an answer to the many prayers which his people have 
offered, that our God has sent such an abundant blessing 
on the means used, and thus far restored him, and given 
good hope that our worst fears regarding his illness will 
not be realized. Of course, it will be very long before the 
effects of such a serious attack will wear away, and his 
weakness is very great, and must be, for the remedies have 
been very severe, and he was so thin and weak before ; 
but his appetite is returning, and quiet sleep, less restless- 
ness, and, as he says himself, ' the brain seems to be 
quieting down,' getting into a more natural state. Oh, 
how thankful I am for all this I cannot say. He has 
been able to go into the garden each day since Tuesday, 
and twice been out for an hour's drive." 



584 



READY TO DEPART. 



On the 12th of July lie was removed to the hydropathic 
establishment at Godalming, Surrey. Shortly after his 
removal to this place, he suffered a relapse so severe that, 
both to himself and his family, the hour of his departure 
seemed at hand. Under this conviction he dictated a 
solemn farewell to his congregation and his friends. After 
giving messages of love to all, he added, " If any inquire 
the ground of my confidence, it is not that I have been a 
minister of the Gospel, or have been kept from some sins, 
for I feel utterly unworthy. My hope is in the mercy of 
God through Jesus Christ, and in that blood which 
cleanseth from all sin, and I wish to go into God's pres- 
ence as the rest have gone, — a sinner saved by grace, — a 
sinner saved by grace." 

His brother William, who visited him at this time, re- 
ceived the impression, " from what he said, as well as from 
the peculiarly loving and earnest way in which he spoke," 
that they should not meet in this life again. When his 
brother expressed a fond desire that, if it should please 
God, he might be spared a few years for the sake of his 
young children, he replied, " Yes, William, they are, some 
of them, very young ; but it is not needful. I feel as if I 
had reached the evening of the week ; and on Saturday 
night it is far better to have all the work ended, — no ser- 
mon to write, no lecture to prepare, and to wait for the 
Sabbath ; and I am waiting. My work to me seems done. 
You are going back to Clapham : give my kind love to 
our dear good uncle. His kindness has been unceasing, 
and is among the most precious of our many mercies. 
Dear, kind old man ! His letters are very full of tender- 



LETTER TO THE CONGREGATION. 



585 



ness, and the fragrance of his sympathy will remain so 
long as the paper retains the ink." This was a steadfast 
love; as far back as the year 1849, I find in a letter 
addressed to Mr. Walk a*, this confession : — " Yon will be 
expecting a visit of Uncle Thomas ; dear nncle, I feel more 
and more drawn to him for his own sake, and also for the 
more and more of my father which seems to shine out of 
him as he grows older." 

On the 27th of July, and in answer to a resolution of 
sympathy adopted at a meeting of the congregation, he 
indited and signed the following reply : — 

"Hillside, Godalming, Surrey, 
27th July 1867. 

" My dear Friends, — Although almost daily desiring to 
thank you for your friendly inquiries and affectionate prayers, 
to which I owe so much, such has been my state of prostration, 
that even by the hand of another I have not been able to 
write. 

"Now, however, your message in the Congregational 
Minute, which I have received through Mr. Blyth, compels 
me to make the effort. Yet what can I say % I can only say 
that my heart is like to be broken by your loving-kindness. 

" Twenty-six years have passed this week since my ministry 
in Regent Square began : it has been full of imperfections ; 
but your kindness to me and mine has made it full of happi- 
ness ; and I trust it has not been without tokens of God's 
blessing. 

u Should any measure of strength be restored, it is a great 
joy to me to think that such services as I may be able to 
render will still be welcomed ; should it be otherwise, good 
is the will of the Lord : that will be done ! 

" There is room for us all in the grace of God, and in the 
provisions of the great Atonement. To that grace I com- 
mend you and myself ; and if not in the dear sanctuary where 



586 FURTHER SYMPTOMS OF IMPROVEMENT. 



we have so often worshipped together, may we meet in that 
better world, 

' Where congregations ne'er break up, 
And Sabbaths have no end.' 

— I remain, your affectionate pastor, 

" James Hamilton." 

"Hill Side, Godalming, July 28, 1867. 

" My dear Me. Watson, — Many thanks for your most 
kind letter received this morning, and its enclosed cheque, 
as well as for all the kind thought you and dear Mrs. 
Watson have given us, in doing so much to save us thought 
and anxiety just now. On Monday I received from Mr. 
Blyth a most kind letter, and the congregational minute 
of the meeting held on Monday week. These I ventured 
to tell my husband of on Thursday, when I hoped he 
might be able to bear it. He asked me to read them to 
him, and it was quite too much for him ; he wept in a way I 
never saw before. And after a little he wished to dictate 
a reply, which I felt it best he should be allowed to do, 
and so set his mind free ; this he did, and signed, lying in 
his bed (which must account for the sad shakiness of the 
signature and his want of sight). This you will see and 
hear to-morrow, so I need only now give you to-day's 
report, which is very good, after a night of very good sleep 
— I think the best there has been yet. The terrible boil 
which has caused so much suffering and feverishness is 
beginning to subside and heal, so we are now hoping to 
see the nourishment which he now takes with relish going 
to cover the poor emaciated frame. It would be a great 
trial to you and other dear friends to see how sadly altered 



CHURCH IN THE HOUSE FOE THE LAST TIME. 587 



he is in body, but the mind is quite as clear and bright as 
ever. We do not let it give out much of its brightness just 
now. He heard your letter, and desires me to give you 
his ' kind love and best thanks for all his benefactions ; the 
payment on account of authorship is a perfect windfall' 
With our united warmest love to Mrs. Watson and your- 
self, and loving remembrances to inquiring friends and our 
dear people, — I remain, my dear Mr. Watson, ever yours 
affectionately, Annie H. Hamilton." 

Having remained under the care of Mr. Maberly for 
more than a month, on the 26th of August, under the 
direction of his physician, the invalid was removed from 
Godalming to lodgings on the sea-side at Margate, where 
he remained three weeks. At first some symptoms of 
improvement appeared. Writing to Mr. Grant on Sep- 
tember 1st, Mrs. Hamilton says, "This morning my hus- 
band came in to breakfast with us, and after it we had 
family worship together! It is now more than two 
months since we met together as a family. Yesterday 
afternoon, quite unexpectedly, Fred, and Sissie came 
down, and Andrew is still with us, so we make a good 
party. Our hearts overflow with joy and thankfulness for 
the goodness and mercy our gracious God has showered 
on us. I believe you will know better than I can 
tell how we felt, — what I felt, as I again heard his voice 
at our family altar. He is very much better on the 
whole." 

As the season advanced, however, without any decisive 
gain, about the middle of the month he conceived suddenly 



588 



AT MARGATE. 



a strong longing for home. To Mr. Grant, who had sent 
weekly reports from London during the whole period of 
his absence, and otherwise shown a manifold and inventive 
kindness, he addressed the following note : — 

" 5 Fort Paragon, Margate, 
Sept. 17, 1867. 3 p.m. 

" My dear Friend, — Cold blustery weather has so 
thrown back the cure, and so aggravated the home -sick- 
ness, that we are coming to town on Friday or Saturday, 
with the doctor's full permission. One advantage will be 
the nearness to the best skill ; another will be the com- 
forts of our own abode, and, perhaps the most influential 
of all, nearness to our dearest friends. I find that 
affection does not lessen by lapse of years, and it is with 
deepening gratitude that I read what the dear Eedeemer 
says about the many mansions and the society in the 
Father's house. For your most interesting, and some- 
times entertaining — often tenderly sympathetic — letters, 
I can return no equivalent. I must leave that to my 
better-half. The receiving of your and Mrs. Grant's 
letters has done much to sweeten the long solitude, and 
I cannot tell how grateful I am, especially on her behalf. 
It is hard to say which of us is the most to be envied ; 
hasn't the Lord been very kind to all of us ? Let us 
magnify His holy name together. Let us trust Him, and 
thank Him, and try to get others to come under the 
shadow of His wings. I felt it a very great kindness 
your going to Helensburgh to see James. Give my kind 
love to Mrs. Grant. The Parisian dressing-case stands 



CHARACTER UNCHANGED. 



589 



on the mantelpiece, in curious contrast to present circum- 
stances, but a precious keepsake from dear friends, and a 
souvenir of the last happy holiday. Wishing for one and 
all of the Quaternion growth in grace and love and all 
goodness, — I remain, ever affectionately yours, 

"James Hamilton." 

His son, by this time pretty well restored to health, 
had been placed in a boarding-school at Helensburgh, on 
the Clyde. 

On the 19th of September, in compliance with his own 
earnest desire, he was removed to London, and took 
possession once more of his own house in Euston Square. 

In his suffering and weakness he remained the same 
man that he had been in periods of health and activity. 
Except in pain and sickness, the latest days of his life were 
in no way different from its earlier days. It is true he 
was ready to depart — willing rather to depart and to be 
with Christ ; but this was not a new and peculiar experi- 
ence imparted to him on his deathbed ; it was an ex- 
perience that he enjoyed to the full in periods of highest 
health and prosperity. When his cup was at the fullest, 
he was wont to entertain, not only with composure, but 
with delight, the prospect of departing. 

On his deathbed, no feature of his character was in any 
way changed, except in as far as physical debility impeded 
its outward manifestation. Through the weary days and 
nights of his suffering many touching expressions fell from 
his lips regarding his trust in God and his love for men. 
But these appeared as in the days of his health, naturally 



590 



THE SETTING SUN. 



mingled with a cheerful interest in all that surrounded 
him. Even the humour that characterized him in his 
busy days was not extinguished by the languor of his dis- 
ease. When, by the substitution of a water-bed, he found 
that instead of being confined to one position he could 
turn to any side, he expressed his satisfaction at having 
attained " unlimited liability." In his living years and in 
his dying days he was all the same man. 

Being in London towards the close of September, I was 
permitted to have one brief interview with the patient. 
There was less change in his appearance and his look than 
I had expected to find ; there was full activity of mind, 
and calm confidence of spirit, but great physical lassitude. 
I intimated, when about to take leave, that we were all 
praying that he might be spared and restored to us. Indi- 
cating by look and gesture that he dissented from my 
judgment in that matter, he whispered, as I bent my ear 
to receive his word, "Pray for an abundant entrance/' 
This was the attitude of his spirit throughout his illness. 
His own judgment, after the first stages, never varied. He 
believed that his work was accomplished, and his outlook 
now was for rest. At Godalming, in the early autumn, 
when he was so prostrated that he could not interest him- 
self in anything, Mrs. Hamilton tells us that when he had 
made no sign throughout the day, he pointed with marks 
of interest towards the setting sun at night. When he 
could not muster up strength enough to utter a sentence, 
the great natural symbol was by a gesture, commissioned 
to express his expectation and desire. 

By a secret and sure premonition, he knew and an- 



" BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH." 591 

nounced at an eaity stage that the end was coming. 
Thenceforth he waited with lamp well-trimmed by the 
wayside, and the sound of the Bridegroom's approach fell 
on his quick and watchful ear, while loving friends still 
hoped to enjoy his company for many days. Those who 
lie in watch for an approaching procession, and especially 
if they desire its approach as the fulfilling of their own 
joy, will hear the expected tramp from afar, as the prac- 
tised African warrior discerns mysteriously the distant 
footfall of friends or foes, by laying his ear to the ground ; 
while others whose senses are unexercised, or otherwise 
occupied, detect no sign. " These are the Bridegroom's 
footsteps," persisted the ready expectant watcher ; and his 
eyes strained eagerly forward into the darkness, while 
friends and family, beheving what they wished, endea- 
voured to persuade him that it was only a rustling among 
the leaves. His instincts were true ; they did not miss 
the mark. According to his own glad divining, the sound 
he heard proved to be the Lord's coming ; parting willingly 
from its tabernacle, the emancipated spirit joined the pro- 
cession, and entered with it into the marriage. The door 
was shut — shutting the ransomed into rest, and shutting 
out our view of his subsequent experience. Eye hath not 
seen — cannot see, what the Lord, after due preparation on 
earth, has done within the veil for that disciple who loved 
Jesus — whom Jesus loved. 

A brief but clear and thoroughly authentic narrative of 
the closing scene was drawn up at the time by members 
of that inner circle who watched most closely over it. 
The document is subjoined entire. 



592 



NARRATIVE OF THE CLOSING SCENES. 



" Once more in his own home, and surrounded by his 
family and the familiar objects which his presence had always 
lighted up as by a sunbeam, he felt greatly comforted ; but 
no abatement of his symptoms could be perceived. Subject 
to the almost hourly alternations of nervous prostration, and 
severe and protracted hepatic disease, he lingered on, greatly 
emaciated and exhausted, but patient and submissive; his 
mind clear and beautiful as ever it had been, while his hope 
and confidence were without a cloud. 

" During his long and trying illness, those who had the 
privilege of being much with him could not fail to remark 
how sickness and suffering deepened into prominent relief 
the features of his beautiful character. Towards his Divine 
Master there could be no change : his faith and confidence in 
Him did not for a moment waver. As he had delighted to 
render Him loving service while in health, in sickness he was 
content obediently to suffer; having a desire to depart and 
to be with Christ, yet leaving without question the issue of 
his illness in the Lord's hands. If it was His will, for the 
sake of his beloved wife and their little ones, to whom his 
care seemed so needful, he would patiently wait ; but for him- 
self he had no such wish. ' The sweetest sound I could hear,' 
he said to a friend, ' would be the Master's voice calling me 
home.' And to another, ' Do not ask life for me, but pray 
for an abundant entrance.' 

" Nor could there be any change in his loving affection for 
the dear flock the Chief Shepherd had given him to feed. 
He had devoted himself to that blessed work in the prime 
of his early manhood ; and when, after twenty-six years of 
earnest service, sickness and disease were sent, they did not — 
for they could not — separate his people from his love. Often 
during the night, and when unaware that wakeful ears were 
near him, he would be heard asking for his ' dear people' the 
blessings of God's grace. And when the conversation would 
revert, at other times, to Eegent Square, it was touching to 
recognise how true to its gracious instinct was the affection 
of the absent pastor. No subject, however unimportant, was 
a matter of indifference to him, while even to the last he 
maintained the same loving interest in each member of his 



GRATEFULNESS AND CHEERFULNESS. 



593 



flock that he had manifested while able to mix freely with 
them. ' My preaching-days are over,' he said to a friend ; 
' but, if it be God's will to prolong my life, I would like to 
be, for the rest of my days, where I could go in and out 
among my dear people.' And he was without carefulness. 
' I am not anxious about Eegent Square,' he said to one of 
the elders ; 1 God will surely send them a man after His own 
heart.' 

" To those who had the pleasure of ministering to him in 
his sickness, he 'was peculiarly grateful. To Mr. Anderson, 
Mr. Boyd, and the members of their families, with whom he 
had spent some of the earlier days of his illness, and to Mr. 
Hugh Matheson, to whom he had intended to pay a lengthened 
visit in the autumn, at his house in Eoss-shire, he was espe- 
cially grateful ; while no kindness, however minute, shown to 
himself or to any member of his family, was overlooked, or 
failed to receive a cordial acknowledgment. 

" Though suffering from a disease peculiarly depressing, his 
bright cheerfulness rarely forsook him. With a mind filled 
with the peace and love of God, there could be no room for 
despondency or gloom. Even to the last, he maintained his 
characteristic genial equanimity; while his radiant, loving 
smile, in recognition of the smallest attention, made the work 
of those who waited on him not a task, but a service of love. 
And in nothing was he more remarkable than for his delicate 
consideration for the comfort and the feelings of others. 
During the whole of his illness, his anxious care that his be- 
loved wife and family should be spared the painful anticipa- 
tion of their impending bereavement, was very marked. 
While to others he spoke without reserve of his conviction of 
the unfavourable issue of his illness, that apparently from the 
beginning had filled his mind, and not unfrequently gave 
utterance to his longing desire to be at rest, to his wife and 
family he either avoided the subject, or, recognising then- 
efforts to cheer him, he would himself suggest hopeful con- 
siderations, or acquiesce in theirs. Even a few days before 
his death, he begged that his illness should not deprive the 
dear little ones of the family of any opportunity of childish 
mirthfulness or recreation j so anxious was he to the last that 

2 r 



594 



DIRECTIONS FOR FUNERAL. 



his home should be a happy one, and his presence impart to 
all who came within its influence, not gloom and sadness, but 
happiness and joy. 

" Early in the week preceding the Sabbath morning on 
which he died, he requested that at the next consultation he 
might see the physicians alone. Although — doubtless, for 
wise professional reasons — the decided information he desired 
was not fully afforded, he was evidently convinced that he 
would not much longer be denied the change he longed for. 
Next morning, to his dear wife he spoke out all his loving 
heart, comforting her with the assurance that they would be 
parted only for a little time, while the same dear Saviour that 
he was so soon to see face to face, would remain to be her 
gracious Protector and loving Friend. On being told that 
during all these weary months, though they had not spoken 
to each other of the parting, now apparently so near, God 
had been gradually preparing her, making her willing to 
resign him, he exclaimed, ' Oh, praise the Lord ! praise the 
Lord ! that He has made you willing.' This gave him great 
relief, and from that time to the end he spoke freely and fre- 
quently of the future, always importing into a subject, other- 
wise sorrowful and sad, his own bright hopefulness and joy. 

" On Wednesday, and again later in the week, to his 
brother, Mr. Andrew Hamilton, who, from the time of his 
removal to Margate, had been constantly with him, he gave 
directions respecting his funeral, expressing a wish, that 
should a service be thought useful or desirable, a minister of 
some denomination other than his own should take part ; ' 1 
have always,' he said, ' loved those who love the Lord Jesus.' 
And thus in death, as in life, he testified that his affection for 
the followers of Jesus was broader than the limits of his own 
denomination. 

" On the evening of Thursday, he took leave of his son-in- 
law. About seven o'clock, the hour of the weekly prayer- 
meeting, after speaking tenderly to his daughter, Mrs. Wills, 
Mrs. Hamilton read to him the paraphrase — 

' Where high the heavenly temple stands ; ' 

and afterwards, at his request, they sang Mrs. Cousins' beaut i- 



"ALL things are now ready." 595 



ful paraphrase of the dying words of Samuel Eutherford. 
When they reached the last verse, as if the words had touched 
a chord to which he must respond, he joined, in a voice weak 
indeed, and feeble, yet distinct — 

' I stand upon His merit ; 

I know no other stand ; 
Not e'en where glory dwelleth, 
In Immanuel's land.' 

" On Friday, he spoke little. His symptoms were evidently 
aggravated ; and, though he still wore the same placid, 
patient aspect, it was plain that he was much distressed. In 
the evening, and, indeed, throughout the day, he had become 
so prostrate, that even the exertion of speaking for a few 
moments was almost more than he could bear. 

" Next day, Saturday, was to be his last on earth. In the 
morning, after an affectionate reference to his son James, 
then absent at school in Scotland, and who had been sent for, 
he reverted to the directions he had given earlier in the week, 
respecting his funeral. On his brother inquiring if he had 
any other wish that he desired to express, he said, ' I have 
not an earthly desire ; my only desire is soon to be gratified.' 
Later in the morning his brother, the Eev. W. Hamilton, 
arrived from Stonehouse. He was able to receive him with 
all his old affection, and to converse with him at intervals 
during the day. Towards the evening he said to him, ' There 
is one line in that hymn which begins with " The hour of my 
departure 's come ! " which exactly describes my feelings at 
this time, — 

' I leave the world without a tear, 
Save for the friends I love so dear.' 

On his brother reminding him of his father's favourite verse 
which he frequently repeated in the pulpit, — 

' Jesus ! the vision of thy face 
Hath overpowering charms ; 
I scarce would feel Death's cold embrace, 
If thou wert in mine arms ! ' 

he replied, ' No, I had forgotten it ; but there is no cold 
embrace, William ; there is no cold embrace.' 

" About ten o'clock, he grew rapidly worse, again complain- 



596 



THE DEPARTURE. 



ing of oppressive tightness in his chest. To his brother 
William he said, ' Would you feel my pulse and tell me if it 
has stopped, for I feel that I am sinking very fast j perhaps, 
as it is getting late, it might be well to send for Dr. Williams, 
for I should not like to disturb him if he were once in bed.' 

" A little after this he took an affectionate farewell of his 
dear wife, adding, ' The Lord bless you and keep you, and be 
ever with you ! ' to which she replied, * As He is with you.' 
A sweet smile of assent lighted up his features as he said, 
' And with you ! ' After a short interval he clasped his hands 
upon his breast, saying, 1 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly/ 

" After this he spoke little, save to recognise gratefully the 
little attentions rendered to him in his extreme weakness, 
and to express his anxiety that his dear wife should not suffer 
through her loving care of him. By-and-by the shadows 
gathered ; but with them came the Master, and carried away 
His dear servant to his rest and his reward. 

" He fell asleep in Jesus on Sabbath morning, Nov. 24th, 
at a quarter past three." 1 

As the living was greatly beloved, the memory of the 
dead was greatly honoured. All sections of Protestants 
conspired to bear affectionate testimony that the Church 
of Christ had gained much by his life, and had lost much 
by his removal. From many countries and from all ranks, 
some earlier, some later, reduplicated expressions of reve- 
rential grief came rolling in like the varied and successive 
echoes of thunder among the hills. I bear witness briefly 
of the fact in not exaggerated terms; for, besides the 
honour conferred on the memory of the deceased brother, 
a glory thence accrues to the Lord who combined so many 
gifts in one life, and lent that life a while to the world. 
It is due to the Christian community to acknowledge and 
reoord here that they intelligently appreciated the worth 

1 Extracted from " In Memoriam" a small volume printed for private dis- 
tribution. 



FUNERAL HYMN. 



597 



of the " pastor and teacher " whom the Head had bestowed 
upon the Church. While in some respects our own day is 
evil, in others it is better than any of the past ; herein 
especially appears a favourable feature of the age, that 
such gifts and graces as were combined in the life of James 
Hamilton, are frankly and affectionately recognised by the 
whole Christian brotherhood. 

A great company of " devout men " assembled to com- 
mit the dust reverently to the dust. 1 Among other appro- 
priate devotional exercises, a simple hymn was sung, 
translated by himself from the German, as he had heard it 
sung at a peasant's funeral in the Black Forest. Thus — 

" Neighbour, accept our parting song, 
The road is short, the rest is long ; 
The Lord brought here, the Lord takes hence, 
This is no place of permanence. 

The bread, by turns of mirth or tears, 
Was thine these chequer'd pilgrim years ; 
Now, Landlord World, shut-to the door, 
Thy guest is gone for evermore — 

Gone to a realm of sweet repose, 
Our convoy follows as he goes ; 
Of toil and moil the day was full, 
A good sleep now ! — the night is cool. 

Ye village bells, ring, softly ring, 
And in the blessed Sabbath bring, 
Which, from the weary work-day tryst, 
Awaits God's folk through Jesus Christ. 

And open wide, thou Gate of Peace, 

And let this other journey cease ; 

Nor grudge a narrow couch, dear neighbours, 

For slumbers won by life-long labours. 

Beneath these sods, how close ye lie, 
But many a mansion 's in yon sky ; 

1 In Highgate Cemetery. 



598 



THE MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY. 



E'en now, beneath the sapphire throne, 
Is his prepared through God's dear Son. 

' I quickly come ! ' that Saviour cries ; 
Yea, quickly come ! this churchyard sighs. 
Come, Jesus, come ! we wait for thee — 
Thine now and ever let us be." 

Funeral sermons were preached in the church on the 
following Lord's Day, in the forenoon by the Eev. Dr. 
Candlish, and in the evening by the Eev. Henry Allon. 

A monument, consisting of a marble medallion likeness, 
with an appropriate inscription, has been erected in the 
interior of Eegent Square Church. 

Besides his widow, Dr. Hamilton's family consists of — 
Anne, born 12th March 1849, married, 3d July 1867, to 
Frederick, fourth son of H. 0. Wills, Esq. of Cotham, Bristol ; 
James, born 20th October 1850, now restored to health, 
and employed in a house of business in London ; Mary 
Isabella, born 5th August 1853 ; Christina Jean, born 11th 
July 1856; Herbert William, born 1st February 1861; 
and Ada Frances, born 25th February 1864. 

Grace, like sunlight, though in its nature and source 
the same for all, becomes of various hues, bright or sombre, 
according to the mental medium through which it shines. 
In some it is grave, careful, pensive, sad. This species is 
precious to the possessor, but not radiant and hopeful for 
the benefit of a neighbourhood. In Dr. Hamilton the 
hope of the Gospel appeared in a peculiarly bright and 
lively colour. There was nothing in his faith to repel a 
child ; and there was much in it to conciliate the worldly, 
and gain their ear for his message. 

Nor let any brother who indulges in peevish ways, 



HIS PREACHING, HIS BOOKS, AND HIS LIFE. 599 



comfort himself with the thought that James Hamilton's 
cheerfulness flowed from a spring of constitutional hilarity. 
The reverse was in a great measure the truth. It was the 
result of prayers and pains. He perceived that cheerful- 
ness and affability in a Christian pastor are eminently 
fitted to commend Christ to men ; and he strove for these 
graces accordingly. Some evidence has been submitted 
to the reader, and more has met the editor's eye, proving 
that, instead of merely following nature in this matter, he 
was engaged in a life-long conflict to overcome obstacles 
which lay in his constitution, and to attain the habit which 
became a second nature, of being all things to all men, 
that he might gain some. 

According to the best judgment I am able to form, 
after a friendship long and intimate, I should be disposed 
to arrange the three instruments with which he served 
the Lord, — his preaching, his books, and his life, — in the 
relations of good, better, best. Owing to a constitutional 
weakness in some of the organs on which the voice de- 
pends, his spoken instructions, in the very large church 
where he ministered, lost a portion of their power ; hence 
his books have been, perhaps, more highly valued than his 
preaching. Again, owing to the peculiar depth and con- 
sistency and uniformity of his character, his life, as far as 
it came into contact with others, was fitted to exert a more 
powerful influence for good than either his printed works 
or his spoken discourse. 

James Hamilton was one of the few good men of whom 
I should venture to say clearly and advisedly, that I was 
more sharply reproved, more deeply impressed, and more 



GOO 



A FRAGRANT MEMORY. 



powerfully drawn to good by intimate contact with the 
man in private, than by any form of his public ministry. 
I know not a severer test of character than this ; and I 
know not a greater triumph of grace than is implied in 
passing successfully through it. A life more solemnizing 
and more winsome under the microscope than at a dis- 
tance is peculiarly valuable. 

These memorials of a precious life are now submitted to 
the Christian community at large, with the prayer that 
through means of them the dead may yet speak instruction 
and reproof to some whom his living voice never reached. 
All is not lost to the world when a good man dies : 
his character remains behind to enrich the community, 
as certainly as the rich man's wealth remains behind to 
increase the estate of his heir. We watch with expec- 
tant interest the swelling of a rose-bud in the spring ; we 
luxuriate in the possession of the full-blown flower while 
it lasts, and we sigh in sadness when its glory departs. 
But, moved by a prophetic instinct, we gravely gather the 
shed leaves from the ground, and deposit them in a place of 
safety ; and soon we make the glad discovery that in these 
leaves, even when withered, we retain for enjoyment the 
fragrance of the rose in the dull winter days that follow, 
when we can no longer look upon the living flower, fresh 
and dewy on its leafy stem. 



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